More than a dozen farmers climbed on a water tank at Lasalgaon’s wholesale market in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on Monday to protest against the 20 per cent export duty on the bulb. Farmers also forced the suspension of trade for two hours, even as local NCP MLA Dilip Bankar raised the matter in the legislature.
Bharat Dighole, president of Maharashtra State Onion Growers Association, said farmers have been agitating for many months for the cessation of the duty. “Summer crop is up for harvest and the wholesale prices have already started dipping. If the duty is not removed soon, it would be a bloodbath in terms of price,” he said.
Back in January, the association staged a sit-in protest demanding the removal of the duty. In view of the lower-than-expected crop, India banned the export of the bulb in the 2023-24 financial year. While the export ban was lifted in 2024, the 20 per cent export duty remained in place, which traders said had put brakes on the free shipping of the bulb. Indian onion has demand in the markets of the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The protest saw onion trade being suspended for two hours.
“Some of the protesters had climbed on the water tank—they were later brought down by the police. Trade resumed later on,” Narendra Wadhavane, secretary of Lasalgaon’s market, said.
After Bankar, MLA for Niphad, raised the issue of the export duty in the Assembly, Minister of Marketing and Protocol Jaykumar Rawal assured the House that he would take up the matter with the central government.
