Sharad Pawar terms constant price fluctuation of onion a matter of grave concern

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Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former union Agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar on Wednesday termed the constant price fluctuation of onion as a matter of grave concern. Speaking to newspersons while on tour of the India’s onion producing belt of Nashik in North Maharashtra, he further termed the Centre’s decision to temporarily stop onion exports while continuing with its import as “illogical”. He further urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government to pay more attention to the onion problem.  

The NCP chief remarked “Frequent fluctuations in onion prices are a matter of grave concern which the Centre needs to pay urgent attention to…I appeal to all traders to start onion auctions instead of keeping the market shut in protest”. 

In order to check the soaring onion prices in the last few days, the Centre had last week imposed a stock holding limit on retail and wholesale traders till December 31. The objective was to provide relief to consumers. 

The NCP chief held an important meeting with onion cultivators and traders in Nashik to mediate in the crisis that arose after auctions were suspended at the Agriculture Market Produce Committees (APMCs) earlier this week in protest against the Centre’s imposition of a stock limit on onions. The traders in Nashik have been refusing to buy onions from farmers, with 15 APMCs and four sub-committees in the district.

Nashik and Maharashtra alone accounts for 43.31 percent of the onion production in the country. Onion is produced in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (15.20 percent), Karnataka (8.47 percent), Gujarat (4.63 percent), Rajasthan (5.87 percent), Bihar (4.89 percent), Haryana (2.27 percent), Andhra Pradesh (3.65 percent), Tamil Nadu (1.62 percent), Uttar Pradesh (1.69 percent) and Telangana (0.61 percent).

Pawar informed the farmers that one must not expect too much from the State government as all decisions relating to import and export of onions were taken at the national level. He remarked “Do not expect too much from the state government as the Centre takes all decisions regarding the import and export onions. The State government has nothing to do with the action taken against the traders”.  

The former union Agriculture minister stated that Nashik ranked first in the country in terms of quantity and quality of its onions. He assured farmers and traders that he, along with two farmer and trader representatives, would soon be holding talks with the Central government regarding the issue of stocking limits.