After government's measures like export ban and import from Pakistan, average wholesale prices of onion in Nashik district's various Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets have come down by around 45 per cent to Rs 2,071 a quintal in the last three days.
An assorted bunch of farmers, small traders and non-government organisations (NGOs) have trained their guns on a legislation that allows private companies to directly procure produce from farmers. Termed the Model Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, the legislation was drawn up by the central government a few years back.
The application, filed through advocate AP Singh, said, "The Acts were passed hastily without adequate discussion... Inherent weaknesses of the agricultural sector cannot be addressed by way of monetization of farmers."
A one day strike by the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees of Gujarat on 18 March, 2008 protesting against taxing of marketing yards in the recent budget is much more than to do with any taxation. It is more to do with transparency.
Though retailers attribute the price rise to traffic restrictions imposed within the city in view of the Commonwealth Games, officials and wholesale traders disagree.
Farmer representatives and agricultural stakeholders urged the government to provide cheaper long-term credit, implement lower taxes, and double the PM-KISAN income support during a comprehensive pre-budget consultation with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. The two-hour meeting saw a detailed discussion of proposals, aimed at addressing multiple challenges in the agricultural sector, with key demands focusing on financial relief, market reforms, and strategic investments.
At Lasalgaon mandi, Asia's largest onion selling market, the onion price jumped Rs 1.50 a kg to Rs 32 a kg, the highest since January last year.
Metro Cash & Carry, the global German wholesale major, will invest about Euro 40-45 million for setting up two new marts in Kolkata and Mumbai, expected to become operational by the first quarter next year. It is also planning to enter Punjab.
The Maharashtra government will amend its agriculture law to protect farmers and Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) as the three central farm laws are not in the interest of agriculturists, state Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.
From linking innovation with supply of inputs to providing contract farming, the private sector can help agriculture move to the next stage of development.
'During times of adversity, a brick becomes better than a stone. That is how I look at the election season.'
The price per kilogram of onion came down to Rs 2 to Rs 4, which angered the growers, who had stopped the auction at the APMC last week for a day.
Devidas Parbhane said with onion prices touching new lows, farmers like me may be meeting the same fate as other farmers who committed suicide
Farmer Ishwar Gaykar (36), from Pachghar village in Junnar tehsil of Pune district, had faced a difficult decision of dumping a large quantity of harvested tomatoes in May this year due to low prices.
The Opposition is also expected to target the Eknath Shinde-led government on shifting of mega projects like Foxconn to Gujarat, according to political observers.
The free education policy should be amended so that boys also get free education besides girls, and all Marathas should get free education "from KG to PG" (kindergarten to post-graduation) until the entire community gets reservation, he said.
The President's assent to these bills comes amid the Opposition criticising the manner in which they were passed in Parliament.
The challenge for politicians is that the continuous electoral cycle favours short-termism and the loan waiver type of policy, whereas prosperity requires hard decisions where commonly held perceptions must be disrupted and over-turned, says Dhiraj Nayyar.
At the benchmark Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandi, the model onion price shot up to Rs 21.50 a kg on Thursday, as against Rs 16.50 a kg on Wednesday. This was the highest since February 11.
The government of Maharashtra decided to shut operations at APMC Vashi mandi between May 11 and 17 after confirmed cases of Covid-19 surpassed 80 in the APMC and over 450 across Navi Mumbai, where the mandi is located.
On October 25, the government issued an ordinance on the denotification. Earlier, in July 2016, it had denotified fruits and vegetables, thereby allowing farmers to sell these to buyers within or outside APMC yards, as they chose
A Bharatiya Janata Party office-bearer from Shirur in Maharashtra's Pune district has sought the removal of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his Nationalist Congress Party from the ruling alliance, which also consists of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
'Nitish Kumar is fooling the people of Bihar.' 'He will not probe anything because if he does so, he will be trapped himself.'
Releasing the manifesto titled 'Badlav Ka Sankalp' (commitment to change) in the presence of All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and other Mahagathbandhan leaders, Tejashwi Yadav said their government, if elected, would first approve the process for appointments on about 10 lakh jobs in the government.
The Congress leadership has become stunted, it does not understand agriculture and the party is trying to mislead farmers for its own vested interests, said Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
In a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the experts suggested timely implementation of the BJP's election manifesto promises to fix higher support prices. They also favoured a Kissan TV channel, an efficient procurement policy, priority for farm mechanisation and the linking of rivers.
'As far as contract farming is concerned, we already have a model Act and states will be encouraged to adopt them.'
The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act of a state regulates the purchase of agricultural products, such as cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables for that region. It hobbles farmers, imposing multiple levies on produce and disallows direct sales to private companies.
Cargill believes the reforms would act as a catalyst in attracting private sector investment in building supply chains for taking Indian farm produce to national and global markets.
Notably, after coming to power in November 2019, the then MVA government scrapped certain policy decisions of its predecessor BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Fadnavis.
Apart from the human body, human food will bear direct repercussions. From staples such as wheat, to coffee, dairy, and even the great Hilsa face the threat of reduced supply due to the extreme heat.
NITI Aayog has been working on an action plan to relieve rural distress and energise the agricultural sector
The agriculture ministry, in the last few weeks, issued guidelines and letters to states to ensure agriculture and food products reach consumers in a timely manner, while farmers don't have to come to the mandis to sell them.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar accused the Congress of ignoring farmers' interests and keeping them poor to ensure cheap grain prices, and asserted that the Modi government empowered them by implementing the Swaminathan commission report to give them remunerative price through MSP.
'There are legions of unemployed degree holders across rural and semi-urban belts in Maharashtra. Now, they aren't finding brides.' 'This issue has now snowballed into a social crisis. In 2014 and 2019, they had voted for the BJP.'
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
'Government intervention in agricultural trade is a problem for farmers.'
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