This time, Chavan could make everything but Rs. 2.49 despite a nearly Rs 40,000 input cost - thanks to inflation, which has made seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides twice as expensive as they were 3-4 years earlier.
Digital Desk: A Maharashtra farmer is disappointed after travelling 70 kilometres to sell his harvest and receiving only Rs 2 in exchange for 512 kg of onions.
Rajendra Tukaram Chavan (58), an onion farmer from Borgaon village in Maharashtra's Solapur district, told TOI that he auctioned the goods for Rs 1/kg at the Solar APMC and received payment in the form of a Rs 2 post-dated cheque.
"I received Re 1 per kg for the onions. The APMC dealer took a further Rs 509.50 from the total payment of Rs 512 for transportation, head-loading, and weighing fees "He went on to say that his net profit last year was Rs 20 per kg.
This time, Chavan could make everything but Rs. 2.49 despite a nearly Rs 40,000 input cost - thanks to inflation, which has made seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides twice as expensive as they were 3-4 years earlier.
The dealer who purchased Chavan's onions at the APMC, Nasir Khalifa, cited digitalization as the rationale for providing a Rs 2 cheque to the farmer and defended the price offered.
"The onions brought for sale were of poor quality," Surya Traders' owner told TOI.
"Previously, Chavan had brought high-quality onions for Rs 18 per kg. He later returned with another batch, which cost him Rs 14 per kg. Onions of poor grade are rarely in demand."
If history is any indicator, the so-called low-quality onion crop accounts for approximately 45% of a farmer's produce, with roughly a quarter of the total onion yield considered high-quality and the rest falling somewhere in between, though in a different intermediate category.
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