LS polls: Ahead of remaining two phases in Maharashtra, focus shifts to onion belt

Nashik: Farmers’ distress in Maharashtra’s onion belt has come under the spotlight ahead of the fourth and fifth phases of the Lok Sabha polls covering 24 constituencies in the state’s northern and western regions. The state has 22 onion-producing districts across 13 parliamentary constituencies where growers have been impacted by the Centre’s moves over the kitchen staple. Of these seats, Solapur, Latur, Baramati and Osmanabad went to polls in the third phase on May 7.

A representative of onion farmers said the ruling dispensation as well as the opposition didn’t do their bit to alleviate their problems.

“There is tremendous unrest among the onion growers who will vent their ire through the EVM (electronic voting machine) on May 13 and May 20,” founder-president of Maharashtra State Onion Producers Association Bharat Dighole told PTI on Thursday.

Elections to the 48 seats in the state are being held in five phases of which three have been completed. Polling in the remaining two phases will be conducted on May 13 and May 20.

Earlier, the Centre had imposed a 14 per cent duty on onion exports to control prices of the bulb in the domestic market. Following agitation by farmers, it withdrew the duty and fixed a minimum export price of $850 per tonne. However, farmers claim this did not benefit them.

In December last year, the Centre completely banned the export of onions. While it lifted the curb on May 4, the government kept the minimum export price at $550 per tonne besides levying a 40 per cent export duty.

Dhule, Dindori, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, Shirur, Beed, Maval, Nandurbar and Nashik, which has the country’s largest wholesale onion market at Lasalgaon, are among the other constituencies where onion growers have been affected. These seats will go to polls in the remaining two phases.

“Due to such policies, farmers’ expenditures increased two-fold and their income halved,” said an agriculture expert from Nashik. He said drought-like conditions prevail in the state, adding, “These are not good signs.” Maharashtra is the largest producer of onions in the country, accounting for about 40 per cent of national production, said Dighole. Rajaram Pangavne, a senior Congress leader from Nashik, said the “undercurrent against the ruling dispensation for its anti-farmer policies” is visible in rural areas. NCP leader and Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal admitted that farmers are upset over the onion export ban. “But now that it has been lifted, it will provide relief to them. We are highlighting this in our campaign,” he said. NCP is part of the ruling Mahayuti coalition, also comprising the BJP and Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Dighole also blamed opposition parties, saying they did not raise their voice as strongly as they should have against the government’s onion policies. “Perhaps they thought that ahead of the elections, the growing anger among farmers would benefit them. They did not force the government to withdraw the decisions,” he said. The farmer representative said former Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who now heads the NCP (SP), took part in a protest by onion growers at Chandwad in Dindori constituency when he could have talked to the Centre directly on their behalf. “Now, his party is contesting from the Dindori seat, which means the opposition was preparing the ground for itself keeping the polls in mind,” he said. Dighole said former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, head of Shiv Sena (UBT), and Congress also did not take a stand on the sufferings of the onion farmers. The government has not implemented what it had announced for onion growers, he said. “The government had announced that it would purchase onions up to 2 lakh tonnes at Rs 2,410 per quintal but did not do it. Its decision to export 99,150 tonnes of onions was not implemented. Similarly, its earlier announcement of exporting 3 lakh tonnes of onion remained only on paper,” he said. To stabilise prices for consumers, there was no need to crush onion farmers in such a manner, he said. “…You cannot bring down onion prices at the cost of farmers to please consumers across various income limits. Farmers’ anger will be expressed through the ballot box,” he said.