Maharashtra Farmer Who Sold 512 Kg Onion Left With Post-Dated Cheque For Rs 2 As 'Net Profit'

Harvest season is the time of the year when a farmer hopes to make a return on the investment he made in the field in the form of seeds, fertilisers, irrigation, labour cost, etc.

But sometimes things don't go as planned and farmers could be left with little to nothing in return for their efforts in the field.

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Onion sold for Re 1 per kg

Rajendra Tukaram Chavan, an onion farmer from Maharashtra's Solapur, has been left with a net profit of Rs 2.49 after selling his harvest.

Chavan reportedly travelled some 70kms to sell his 512 kg onions at Solapur Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC).

At the market, the trader offered him just Re 1 per kg of the onion.

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Net profit of Rs 2.45

If that wasn't bad enough, the trader deducted around Rs 510 towards loading, transport and labour charges, leaving him with just Rs 2.45 as 'profit'.

That, too, is a post-dated cheque, which the bewildered farmer can cash in only after 15 days.

"I had sent 10 bags of onions weighing more than five quintals to an onion trader in Solapur for sale. But after deducting charges towards loading, transport, labour and others, I received a net profit of just Rs 2.49 from him," Chavan told PTI.

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Insult to farmers

The 58-year-old termed the Rs 2 net profit an insult to farmers.

"After deductions worth Rs 509.51 against labour, weighing, transportation and other charges, I received a net profit of Rs 2.49. This is an insult to me and other onion-growers in the state. If we get such returns, how will we survive?" he asked.

Onions were of low quality

While Chavan claimed that the produce was of good quality, the trader said it was low-grade.

"The farmer had brought only 10 bags and the produce was also of low grade. That is why, he got Rs 100 per quintal rate. So after all the deductions, he got Rs 2 as net profit," the trader said.

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He added that the same farmer had received good returns in the recent past by selling more than 400 bags to me.

"This time, he brought the remaining produce that was hardly 10 bags and since the prices have gone down, he got this rate," he said.

Onion prices fall during harvest season

While onions are still sold in retail markets at an average price of Rs 30 per kg, farmers who produce them don't even earn a fraction of it.

During the peak of the harvest season, when the market is flooded with onions, it is not uncommon for the price to drop to Re 1 or even less.

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Such low prices in the past have resulted in many farmers not harvesting the crop as it made better sense to forgo their investment than sell it at a loss.

Farmers leader and former MP Raju Shetti said that the onion hitting the market now is a 'kharip' produce and cannot be stored for a long time, so the product's shelf life is short. "This onion needs to be sold in the market immediately and exported out. But due to glut, the prices of onions have nosedived in the market," he said.

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