Onion prices have gone through the roof and consumers are left with the feeling that they are being fleeced while the farmers are minting money. Moreover, some sections of the media are also giving this impression. This theory is, however, entirely wrong and needs to be corrected.

In the current scenario, only stored onions are being brought into the market by those farmers who have the storage capacity and enough money to allow them to store the product. Such farmers are a handful. The majority of farmers are marginal and have already sold off their onion in April and May this year as they need cash. The present season’s profit is being raked in only by a handful of super rich farmers and the traders, not the farming community at large.
APMCs are working for traders, not farmers: The APMCs were established to help the farmers get good prices for their produce. Now, the APMC directors have formed a cartel with the traders to fleece the farmer. A handful of traders manipulate the market to derive maximum profit because their cartel decides the price. In general when 100 tractors of onion belonging to various farmers are traded, not more than one or two tractors get the highest price e.g. `4,500 per quintal. This means the highest price paid in the APMC was for 30 to 60 quintals. Out of the remaining 2,940 quintals the average price offered is between `1,700 to `3,000 per quintal. When giving their statistics, APMCs show the minimum, maximum and average price. Local traders, however, charge the highest price for the entire produce when they are selling it to traders coming from other locations. Every quintal of onion is then probably sold for `4,500 plus additional charges for transport and profits, making it `6,000 per quintal for the consumer. How much did the farmer earn after working the fields, struggling against nature and bringing out the harvest? How much did the
trader earn by manipulating the APMC directors and up-market traders? These answers are open to all. Secondly, APMC does not update its information of harvests, production, average and other data. This information should be provided to the farmers, so they can do the needful. Next year the onion
crop will flood the market and the APMC should be held responsible.
Why only onions: If a consumer buys 1 kg onion for `40 per kg, it lasts for at least a week. On the other hand, the consumer buys lady’s finger at `50 per kg, and it’s enough only for two portions. Secondly onion is not an essential part of the diet. Vegetables can be made without onion and even if onion is required, the consumer can use one onion instead of two. The farmer has to struggle against nature, especially for water. This year drinking water had been given priority over agriculture, which was acknowedged by PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal. Few farmers with a good supply of well water or those who had fields near rivers could plant onions. Some enterprising farmers watered their fields with tanker water and produced the tuber crop.
Policy of pricing: The government policy of fixing farm produce rates is wrong. It helps
neither the farmer nor the consumer. Farmers should be allowed to decide their prices after calculating the production cost. The present production cost is around `15 to `20 per kg after all factors like land, water, seedlings, fertilisers and pesticides are calculated. During good harvests the market is flooded with onions. The price offered is `0.50 to `1 per kg. Disheartened farmers either throw away the produce or make it manure for their fields. Scores of farmers have committed suicide when they became bankrupt over the harvest. The media should highlight this as well.

(The author is a veteran Shetkari Sanghatna activist, human rights lawyer and former journalist)