Nashik onion farmers protest crash in prices
On Sunday 12 June, state co-operatives minister Chandrakant Patil visited the town of Niphad tehsil…On Sunday 12 June, state co-operatives minister Chandrakant Patil visited the town of Niphad tehsil, in Nashik; during his visit, farmers staged demonstrations in protest against the recent crash in onion prices. The growers demanded a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 2,000 per quintal for onions during the protest.
Delegations of the Shetkari Sanghatana, a state-level association of farmers and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna also met the minister Patil, seeking a waiver of complete crop loans to farmers and MSP of Rs 2,000 per quintal for onions. In turn, Patil said the decision regarding onion MSP will be taken at a state cabinet meeting soon.
Santu Zambre, North Maharashtra president of Shetkari Sanghatana said, "We met the state co-operatives minister Chandrakant Patil during his visit to Niphad and presented with memorandum of our demands, seeking waiver loans to farmers and MSP of Rs 2,000 per quintal to onions. The minister said the government is mulling to introduce MSP to onions and the decision is to be taken at the state cabinet meeting shortly."
"Farmers have been facing drought and unseasonal rains with hails for the past two-three years. We want the state government to give a complete loan waiver to farmers of the state. Now, onion prices have also crashed in APMCs and farmers are suffering huge losses as they are not even making up their production costs," he added.
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