India's onion export ban: farmers’ unrest in Maharashtra as prices decline
The Indian government's proceed to ban the export of onion has sparked a farmers' unrest in Maharashtra while practically a huge selection of trucks carrying around 25,000 tonnes of onion were stranded on the Bangladesh border with West Bengal.
Onion farmers have threatened to avoid auction of the kitchen staple if the export ban was not rolled back. No auction reportedly occurred at Lasalgaon, Asia's biggest wholesale market of onion, because the announcement, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
As a result, the common wholesale price fell sharply at Lasalgaon. It fell to Rs 1,900 per quintal on Tuesday from the Rs 3,000 on Monday, following announcement of the ban.
The Maharashtra unit Congress, a part of the state's ruling coalition, has made a decision to stage a state-wide protest demanding withdrawal of the "unjust" decision to ban export of onions, said the state's Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat.
The Indian government on Monday banned the export of most varieties of onions with immediate effect to curb rising prices of the commodity in the domestic market.
"Farmers hoped to get good charges for their onions. But the whimsical Modi government at the Centre suddenly banned export of onions. The Congress will stage a statewide protest on Wednesday, seeking immediate withdrawal of the export ban," Thorat, who is also Maharashtra Congress chief, said.
The Congress' ally Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra has recently made clear its opposition to the export ban and demanded its revocation.
Indian Agriculture Ministry sources said the rise in onion price has happen despite satisfactory stock in godowns. Maharashtra alone includes a stocking capacity of 3.7 million tonnes of onion and at present an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of summer onions is placed in the state.
They said the spurt in onion price has happened mostly on apprehension of shortage because of the damage to kharif season onions due to heavy rains and flood in some key onion-growing states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Onion exporters in Mahadipur of Malda said at least 150 trucks with onion were stranded and such reports have also can be found in from other land border ports at Hili, Petrapole, Ghojadanga, Changrabandha and Fulbari.
"My estimate is that around 1,000 trucks are in these land ports, each packed with 25 tonnes of onions," according to Joint Convenor of Exporters Coordination Committee, Uzzwal Saha.
