Farmer earns Rs 1 after selling 1 tonne onions

Pune, May 24

In a bizarre claim, a farmer has said he could earn only Rs 1 from sale of nearly a tonne of onions at the district Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC).

According to Devidas Parbhane, 48, the fall in onion prices is already taking a toll and like him, several others have got a ‘raw deal’ despite a bumper crop this season.

“Every day, we are hearing news about farmer suicides from drought-hit regions. However, with onion prices touching new lows, farmers like me may be meeting the same fate,” said Parbhane, the sole bread-earner for his family of five.

Parbhane explains the math: He has two acres of farmland in which he grew onions by spending Rs 80,000. “On May 10, I sent 952 kg of onions in 18 gunny bags through a truck to the Pune-based APMC and received Rs 16 per 10 kg. So, per one kg, it works to one rupee and sixty paise,” said Parbhane.

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“The total onion was sold for Rs 1,523.2. Out of the earnings, the middlemen took away Rs 91.35 as commission, labour charges were Rs 59 and Rs 18.55, and Rs 33.30 was paid against miscellaneous charges. Rs 1,320 was paid to the truck driver, who transported the produce to APMC,” he said.

He claimed that after all deductions, he is taking home only Rs 1. There was no comment on the farmer’s claim from the APMC. Local media reports quoted the trader who bought the onion as saying that produce was of smaller size and inferior quality. — PTI