Maharashtra farmer ferries onions 200km, earn just 67 paise/kg; burns remaining crop

KOLHAPUR: A farmer from Solapur, who had turned to agriculture after leaving a civil engineering career, was forced to burn his standing onion crop after receiving just 67 paise per kg at the Kolhapur APMC — an amount that did not even cover his labour costs.

Lakhan Mane, a resident of Begampur village in Mohol tehsil, had travelled nearly 200km with hopes of securing a better price than the 50 paise per kg offered at the Solapur market. Instead, he returned disillusioned and destroyed what remained of his harvest.

"Hoping that onions will get a reasonable price at least in the Kolhapur APMC, I decided not to take my produce to the Solapur APMC, which is just 50km from my place. At the Solapur APMC, farmers are getting prices as low as 50 paise. However, I was dismayed, and upon returning from Solapur, I burnt the onion in the fields," said Mane, who had completed civil engineering in 2016 but chose farming to support his parents.

Mane had cultivated onions on two acres. On May 8, he transported 100 sacks — each weighing about 55 kg — to the Kolhapur APMC, only to receive Rs 3,700 in total from a trader.

His story is not isolated. Just days earlier, another farmer from Barshi travelled 270km to Kolhapur and received only Re 1 per kg for his produce.

"We know the Barshi farmer had bought onions of low grade. His produce might have gotten damaged in rain, as was evident from water dripping from the sacks. The onions had no cover left. The merchant was not ready to buy the stock, however the farmer kept on insisting and demanding at least Rs 2 per kg. If the merchant denied, then it would have been a further burden on the farmer, who would have to pay again for transportation to take the produce to some other market. He had nearly 40 sacks with 50kg onion each. It is a norm followed by the traders to draw a bill at Rs 1 per kg rate for produce of such quality, which eventually goes into waste bin," said Manoj Salunkhe, the head of the onion department at the Kolhapur APMC.

Salunkhe said even the best-quality onions are currently fetching only Rs 12-13 per kg, far below sustainable levels. "The onion supply to the APMCs has increased as there are restrictions on export due to war and other factors. This time of the year, there is usually demand from Kerala and southern states but the merchants there are not ready to place the order," he said.