Trouble for Madhya Pradesh farmers as onion prices drop to as low as 50 paise per kg

Onion prices crashed to between 50 paise and Rs 5 per kilogram, depending on their quality, at state-run wholesale markets across Madhya Pradesh, farmers and merchants said today.

"Yesterday, we purchased onion at 50 paise to Rs 5 per kg from farmers depending on the quality of the produce," Neemuch Onion Mandi merchant Sameer Choudhary told PTI today.

Bhopal Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti secretary Vinay Prakash Pateria informed that onion was being bought at the wholesale market here at prices ranging from Rs 2 to Rs 6 per kilogram.

He added that more stocks of onions, thanks to a bumper harvest across the state, was expected to make their way to the wholesale markets.

"A lot of supply has come in the last two days and more is expected. By the close of this season, about 20,000 to 25,000 quintals of onions is expected to reach the Bhopal Mandi," he informed.

"A lot of the produce coming in is of of poor quality.

Cultivators are selling better quality onions in the open wholesale market," Pateria said.

The retail price of onions in several parts of the state was currently about Rs 10 per kilogram, farmers said.

An agitation by farmers on June 6 last year, demanding fair prices for their produce and waiver of farm loans, had resulted in the death of six protesters in police firing in the state's Mandsaur district.