Maharashtra onion farmers have actually advised the Centre to reveal an unique Rs 10,000 crore revival bundle, declaring that duplicated export curbs, natural disasters and cost crashes have actually pressed them into an extreme monetary crisis.
Bharat Dighole, founder-president of the Maharashtra State Onion Growers Farmers Association, stated that farmers have actually suffered substantial losses throughout the years due to what he described flawed export policies, spurious seeds, storage losses and other elements.
He stated the Centre’s choices to enforce export restrictions in 2019, 2020 and 2023-24, impose a 40 percent export responsibility and repair minimum export costs of $850 and $550 per tonne at various durations struck onion farmers hard.
The main federal government’s relocate to launch buffer onion stock through NAFED and NCCF at lower rates in the domestic market negatively impacted costs of the kitchen area staple and triggered significant monetary losses to farmers, he stated in a declaration.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) are main firms charged with procuring and keeping buffer stocks of onions.
Onion growers likewise suffered losses due to a number of elements, consisting of extreme rains, hailstorms, unseasonal rains, floods, dry spell, spurious seeds and crop illness, while farmers who saved onions in 2025 and offered them in 2026 got exceptionally low costs, it declared.
The association has actually required that the support be moved straight into farmers’ checking account to offset their losses. Onion growing is performed in about 30 districts of Maharashtra, it stated.
“Policies that harm onion growers in the name of consumer welfare must stop. The Centre should immediately announce a special Rs 10,000 crore onion economic revival package,” Dighole stated.
Based upon onion growing location, farm-size patterns, farming research studies and federal government information, Maharashtra has approximately 10 to 15 lakh farmer households associated with onion production yearly, he stated.
To name a few needs, the association required an aid plan for licensed onion seeds, a 100 percent aid for storage sheds and storage facilities, and an unique fund to assist in direct sales from farmers, farmer-producer organisations (FPOs), cooperatives and growers’ associations to customers.
The body has actually looked for unique monetary arrangements for establishing onion processing markets in significant bulb-producing districts, consisting of Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Pune, Beed, Satara, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalgaon, Dhule and Solapur.
It likewise required assistance for farmer-owned systems producing onion powder, onion flakes, dehydrated onion, onion paste and other value-added items.
The association has actually required the production of an onion export promo fund, a steady long-lasting nationwide onion export policy rather of repeating export restrictions and responsibilities, and a “National Onion Stabilisation Fund” to supply instant monetary security to farmers when rates collapse.
Its other needs consist of interest-free or low-interest loans to avoid distress sales of kept onions, unique help to farmer-producer business and cooperatives for onion procurement, storage, processing and marketing, and the facility of an independent “National Onion Producers Corporation” to secure growers’ interests.
“If onion growers survive, the rural economy will survive; and if the rural economy survives, the country’s economy will become stronger,” Dighole included.
