Farmers in Lasalgaon confused, furious over onion export ban

The sudden ban of exports of onions by the Centre has come as a bolt from the blue to farmers in Lasalgaon in Nashik district, the largest onion wholesale market of onions.

In Lasalgaon, farmers have come to the streets to protest against the ban, which they feel is unjustified.

Even as in New Delhi, NCP supremo and former union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar flagged the issue with the Centre, the Maharashtra government is rattled.

"The onion farmers are very poor...the Covid-19 pandemic situation has put them in trouble and this ban is going to affect them more. They will come to the streets," said state's food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal.

State agriculture minister Dada Bhuse said that the ban on exports of onions needs to be revoked.

"We will have to wait for days to see how the market reacts to the situation in totality," said veteran agriculture commodities expert Deepak Chavan.

"The rabi crop has yielded 212 lakh metric tons, but a significant portion was not proper...it had got dehydrated, rotten," he said, adding that one would now have to look at the kharif crop.

Excessive rainfall in India's southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh has affected the crop and the supplies, said Ajit Shah, president of the Mumbai-based Onion Exporters' Association.