RAJKOT: Onion growers in Saurashtra are crying foul over not getting enough prices for their produce. Months after potato farmers in Deesa destroyed potatoes worth crores, farmers in Saurashtra are doing the same.
Onion growers in villages of Mahuva in Bhavnagar, one the highest producers of the vegetable in the state and Talaja in Rajkot are either not harvesting it or are destroying it for fear of not getting enough prices in the market.
Pravin Kathiriya, a board member in Mahuva Marketing Yard, said, "This is the worst ever scenario for onion growers as they are not even able to recover the minimum production cost of their crops. At present, farmers are getting Rs 40 to Rs 60 per 20 kg for red onion and Rs 100 to Rs 120 for white onion."
Mahuva Marketing Yard receives 1 lakh bag (one bag contains 50 kg) onion daily.
"Farmers have started destroying crops in the fields and avoiding harvest. They have already spent a lot of money on production. Now, they do not have money to take the onions to the market," said Bharatsinh Wala, a farmer in Taredi village of Mahuva taluka.
A major chunk of the total red onions produced in this region was consumed in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. "However, onions from Rajashtan and Maharashtra which are less expensive have made inroads in these regions due to which farmers of Saurashtra have lost ground and are seeing the onions pile up," said Pravin Gajera, an onion trader in Mahuva, reasoning the decline in the prices.
According to Babubhai Wala, a farmer from Dudhala village in Mahuva, "on an average farmers spend Rs 40,000 per bigha to produce onions. As against it, farmers reap 100 bags of 20 kg each per bigha. Large number farmers have opted not to harvest the crop." Moreover, Saurashtra produces around 60% of total onion production of the state.
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