Thursday, 15 September 2022

Farmers should be provided relief by buying more onion through NAFED

 


Chief Minister Eknath Shinde wrote a letter to Union Minister Piyush Goyal

Urge to increase the benefit of exemption of duty and tax rebate

 

  Mumbai, Date 15 September: As onion farmers are facing financial difficulties due to fall in prices of onions, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has requested Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal that another 2 lakh metric tonnes of onion should be purchased via the Price Stabilization Fund through NAFED (National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India).

            In his letter to the Union Minister, the Chief Minister said that onion is the major crop of farmers in Maharashtra and it accounts for 35 to 40 percent of the country's total production. With a good monsoon in 2021-22, onion production has reached 136.70 lakh metric tonnes (MT), which is 20 lakh MT more than the previous year. Overall market prices have come down significantly. This has created an atmosphere of despair and uneasiness among the onion growers. Earlier, Sri Lanka imports large quantities of onion, but due to the economic crisis, there are problems for the import as well. Owing to the constantly changing conditions in the international market, it is not possible for our farmers to get good prices from exports.

            The central government has also rejected the state government's plea to increase the benefit to 10 percent instead of 2 percent under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme.

             Addressing to the Union Minister, the letter further said, If your ministry provides up to 10 percent benefit in this scheme, it will benefit the farmers. The Chief Minister has also requested to the Union Minister to increase the current procurement of onion from NAFED by another 2 lakh MT. NAFED has already procured 2.38 lakh MT of onion from April to June this year. The Chief Minister said that the purchase of another 2 lakh MT of Onion will give relief to the onion growers for the price.

 

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