MUMBAI: Onion growers across India suffered heavy financial losses throughout 2025 due to the Centre’s “intervention” in the market, alleged Bharat Dighole, founder president of the Maharashtra State Onion Growers Farmers’ Association.
The association has demanded compensation for farmers through a direct subsidy for losses incurred in 2025, and warned of protests if their demands are not met.
Dighole, who heads the Nashik-based association, said that prices of the kitchen staple remained far below the cost of production. While the production cost was between Rs 22 and Rs 25 per kg, the average market prices ranged only from Rs 8 to Rs 18 per kg during 2025, he said in a statement.
Citing data compiled from all market committees in Maharashtra, the statement said the onion average prices received by farmers were Rs 20 per kg in January, Rs 22 in February, Rs 14 in March, Rs 8 in April, Rs 9 in May, Rs 13 in June, Rs 12 in July and August, Rs 9 in September, Rs 10 in October, Rs 12 in November, Rs 14-15 from December 1 to 15, and Rs 18 per kg after December 15.
“These prices are far below production costs and are the main reason behind farmers’ losses and rising indebtedness,” Dighole said.
He alleged that despite adequate onion availability in the country, the government procured around 3 lakh tonne of onions through NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation) and NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation) to create a buffer stock.
However, instead of buying directly from farmers, procurement was carried out through intermediaries, contractors and private agencies, leading to large-scale irregularities and financial misconduct, he claimed.
Dighole also alleged that onions from the buffer stock were released into the domestic market at very low prices, which prevented any rise in market rates throughout the year. “This destroyed every possibility of price recovery and forced farmers to sell onions at a loss,” he said, terming it a “planned conspiracy to suppress prices”.
He alleged that the buffer stock mechanism, meant to protect farmers and consumers, had instead turned into a “broker-protection scheme”, benefiting a few select entities through “bogus and substandard” purchases.
“The farmer was pushed into debt, many reached the brink of suicide, while the government kept projecting success through statistics,” Dighole said.
The association has demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into onion buffer stock procurement and distribution during 2025, a financial probe into agencies involved in procurement for NAFED and NCCF, criminal action against guilty officials, contractors and middlemen, and a legally guaranteed minimum support price for onions based on production costs.
It has also demanded compensation to farmers through direct subsidy for losses incurred in 2025, warning of statewide and nationwide protests if demands are not met. These include shutdown of market committees, agitations outside NAFED and NCCF offices, and a national-level farmers’ movement reaching Delhi.
“This is not just an onion issue, but a question of farmers’ survival. For onion growers, 2025 has been a year of losses, debt, humiliation and betrayal,” Dighole said, warning that farmers will not remain silent if similar policies continue in 2026.