Maharashtra accounts for one third of the country’s total production, said Uddhav Thackeray. (File)
Bombay:
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urged the Center to increase the onion stockholding limit to 1,500 metric tonnes for state wholesalers, who buy major kitchen staples directly from farmers.
In a letter to Union Minister of Consumer, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal on October 30, Thackeray said wholesalers have stopped buying onions from farmers due to the very limited stock limit of 25 metric tonnes.
“It blocked the supply chain from farmers to consumers, which led to onion prices rising in the retail market,” he said.
“The arrival of the kharif onion will probably start from the first week of November. The Kharif onion is very perishable. If this onion is not bought by traders due to the current stock cap, farmers in the Maharashtra will suffer huge losses, ”he added. .
In the past six months, onion producers have already suffered from the COVID-19 lockdown, the chief minister said, and called for the stock limit to be increased to 1,500 metric tonnes.
Mr Thackeray said the limit of 25 metric tonnes for wholesalers and two metric tonnes for retailers has caused serious hardship for onion growers as well as traders.
Maharashtra is one of the main onion producers and accounts for a third of the country’s total production, he added.
“The state accounts for 80 percent of India’s onion exports. In the last season, onion production was around 100 lakh metric tons,” Thackeray said.
“This year, excessive rains and flooding in major onion-producing states, including Maharashtra, damaged the standing kharif crop and led to price increases in September-October 2020,” he said. he declares.
