Following the protests of onion farmers in Maharashtra, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, held a high-level meeting to solve the issue of procurement. The central government asked the National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) to procure onions from farmers.
Nafed has not released its price of onion for Nashik farmers but it is selling onions at Rs 25 per kg while chana dal at Rs 60 per kg in Kerala. NCCF
Nafed and NCCF will purchase onions from farmer-producer companies. "Instead of buying onions from farmer-producer companies, government organizations should take it from the market directly," said Sanket Hoge, Agriculture Export consultant/Professional.
All agriculture produce marketing committees (APMCs) have been auctioning in Nashik. At this moment, kharif onions are available in the markets, while rabi can be stored.
The rabi onions received the price of Rs 3200 per quintal in the markets and Kharifs got Rs 2,150 per quintal.
"In August, farmers demanded APMC procurement process but, a very negligible quantity was bought within APMC. Again NCCF and Nafed should initiate procurement directly from farmers and the APMC bidding process.
He further added, "Farmers expect transparency in the buying process."
