Onion traders in Nashik ended their thirteen-day strike and took part in onion auctions at the Agricultural Market Produce Committees (AMPCs) in the district, despite the government not having accepted any of their demands. This has led onion farmers to raise doubts about the motives behind the strike.
Nashik, considered onion hub of the State also houses Asia’s biggest onion market in Lasalgaon. Traders started strike alleging that government agencies — the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) — are procuring onions from Nashik farmers and selling them to APMCs in other States at a significantly lower price than what the traders charge bulk buyers.
Traders claimed that this practice is causing them to suffer and is adversely affecting their trade in other States and asked the government to ban Nafed and NCCF from bringing its onion in the APMCs. In addition, traders also demanded that the Centre reconsider the 40 per cent export duty imposed on onions last month.
Nashik Guardian Minister Dada Bhuse held meeting with onion traders on Monday evening and late in the evening traders announced to withdraw the strike. Bhuse told traders that the government was considering their demand and assured to find the way within a month.
Why strike?
On Tuesday morning, as farmers began bringing their onions to the APMCs and many of them questioned the reasons behind the traders’ strike and their subsequent withdrawal, especially since the government had not accepted any of their demands.
When speaking to the media, some farmers alleged that the traders had continued their onion trading activities from their existing stocks during the 13-day strike. Only after depleting their stocks did the traders return to the market for auctions.
“It’s the farmers who have borne the brunt of the past 13 days. A substantial quantity of onions stored in chawls has been damaged due to the heavy rains and humid conditions over the last two weeks. Now, farmers are left with no choice but to sell their remaining stock in the market at whatever price they can get, given the deteriorated quality of the onions,” lamented the farmers.
Control over APMCs
The Lasalgaon market is the dominant hub for onion trading in India, and farmers in this region claim that approximately 125 main traders belonging to 25 families possess trading licenses and exert full control over the market. Farmers allege that the APMC does not issue new licenses without the approval of these traders.
A study conducted by the Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Centre at the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bengaluru had previously uncovered that a small group of influential traders with extensive networks played a significant role in stockpiling onions and artificially inflating prices.