Onion farmers run riot as price crashes

or

Onion farmers run riot over sudden crash in prices

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, March 2

Accusing traders of manipulation following a sudden fall in the onion price, farmers ran riot at the main markets of Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, Yeola and other parts of Nashik district today. Police and local officials said the auction of onions was suspended mid-morning after farmers stoned buses and dumped their produce on the roads demanding a fair price.

Traffic on the Nashik-Aurangabad Highway was disrupted by protesting farmers after which the police carried out a mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

Average onion prices fell sharply to Rs 1,450 per quintal at Lasalgaon with low quality of the bulb crashing to Rs 900 per quintal. Average prices had touched a high of Rs 2,200 on Friday after Union Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Ram Vilas Paswan took to Twitter last week to state that the government was thinking of lifting the ban on exports of onions.

However, the Centre had not issued any notification so far as a result of which traders stopped buying onions at higher prices, according to officials at the Agriculture and Produce Marketing Committee at Lasalgaon. Meanwhile, farmers began to harvest their crop early in expectation of higher prices which caused an over-supply, according to the officials.

Arrivals of onions rose from around 24,000 quintals per day to more than 30,000 quintals per day for the past two days.