Onion farmers seek ₹10,000 crore revival package, stable export policy from Centre

Maharashtra onion farmers have urged the Centre to announce a special ₹10,000 crore revival package, claiming that repeated export curbs, natural calamities and price crashes have pushed them into a severe financial crisis. Bharat Dighole, founder-president of the Maharashtra State Onion Growers Farmers Association, said that farmers have suffered huge losses over the years due to what he termed flawed export policies, spurious seeds, storage losses and other factors. He said the Centre’s decisions to impose export bans in 2019, 2020 and 2023-24, levy a 40% export duty and fix minimum export prices of $850 and $550 per tonne at different periods hit onion farmers hard. The central government’s move to release buffer onion stock through NAFED and NCCF at lower rates in the domestic market adversely affected prices of the kitchen staple and caused substantial financial losses to farmers, he said in a statement. Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) are central agencies tasked with procuring and maintaining buffer stocks of onions. Onion growers also suffered losses due to several factors, including excessive rainfall, hailstorms, unseasonal rains, floods, drought, spurious seeds and crop diseases. In contrast, farmers who stored onions in 2025 and sold them in 2026 received extremely low prices, it claimed. The association has demanded that the assistance be transferred directly into farmers' bank accounts to offset their losses. Onion cultivation is carried out in about 30 districts of Maharashtra, it said. "Policies that harm onion growers in the name of consumer welfare must stop. The Centre should immediately announce a special Rs 10,000 crore onion economic revival package," Mr. Dighole said. Based on onion cultivation area, farm-size patterns, agricultural studies and government data, Maharashtra has roughly 10 to 15 lakh farmer families involved in onion production annually, he said. Among other demands, the association called for a subsidy scheme for certified onion seeds, a 100% subsidy for storage sheds and warehouses, and a special fund to facilitate direct sales from farmers, farmer-producer organisations (FPOs), cooperatives and growers' associations to consumers. The body has sought special financial provisions for setting up onion processing industries in major bulb-producing districts, including Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Pune, Beed, Satara, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalgaon, Dhule and Solapur. It also demanded support for farmer-owned units producing onion powder, onion flakes, dehydrated onion, onion paste and other value-added products. The association has called for the creation of an onion export promotion fund, a stable, long-term national onion export policy rather than recurring export bans and duties, and a " Onion Stabilisation Fund" to provide immediate financial protection for farmers when prices collapse. Its other demands include interest-free or low-interest loans to prevent distress sales of stored onions, special assistance to farmer-producer companies and cooperatives for onion procurement, storage, processing and marketing, and the establishment of an independent " Onion Producers Corporation" to safeguard growers’ interests. "If onion growers survive, the rural economy will survive; and if the rural economy survives, the country's economy will become stronger," Mr. Dighole added.