Maharashtra BJP MP calls for withdrawal of export ban, onion prices remain steady

Farmer leaders and onion growers stage a protest against the ban on onion export, at Satana in Nashik Monday. (PTI)

A day after onion growers from Nashik, Pune hit the roads to protest against the export ban on onions, BJP MP from Dindori, Bharati Pawar wrote to the Union Commerce Minister and the Union Agriculture Minister asking the ban to be rolled back. In her letter, the MP has said the decision has caused great discontentment among farmers in Maharashtra.

On Sunday, the central government completely banned the export of onions and also defined limits to the stock that wholesale and retail traders can hold. These decisions were taken to cool down the prices of the bulb. Due to lesser production of onion in the in Maharashtra and Karnataka, prices of onion had spiked. While in majority of the wholesale markets, onion was trading above Rs 3,500 per quintal in most, cities retail customers were buying onion at Rs 60-70 per kg.

Pawar, whose constituency encompasses the onion growing belt of Nashik pointed out how this decision of export ban would affect all onion growers in the country.

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“Maharashtra alone accounts for 33 per cent of the onions produced in the country. This decision has caused great discontentment among them,” she said.

The decision taken by the government in terms of onion prices comes even as Maharashtra and Haryana go to polls in the next 20 days.

The BJP-Shiv Sena combine had swept the onion belt of Maharashtra in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and they hope to do the same during the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. The government’s decision has not gone down well with onion growers who had protested on Monday in Nashik.