The spiralling prices of onions have brought tears of joy for this farmer of Kolhar village of Basavanabagewadi taluk. Maleppa Baragi a traditional onion farmer has earned a whopping ₹42 lakh by selling onions cultivated on a ten acre farm in the village.
Though he has around 30 acres of land, he has reserved ten for onion cultivation for several years now. “Thanks to the good price of onions in the market this year, I have earned an unexpected profit. Never in my life have I earned this much from onions,” he said.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said that he sold each quintal for onion in Vijayapura market for ₹6,000 which is extremely high compared to previous years. However, because of the excess rain that the district received, some of the crop got wasted.
“In normal conditions, an acre of land should yield around 12 quintals of onion on my land. But this time, because of excess rains, the yield got reduced by around two quintals per acre. If there were no excess rains, then the yield and profit would have been higher,” Mr. Baragi said.
The farmer, though happy over making a huge profit, says that rarely does luck turn in favour of farmers.
“Just last year, I sold each quintal of onion for only ₹500 which is too less for a farmer. I had spent around ₹5 lakh on cultivation, and I earned only ₹3 lakh. Who will pay for the loss we incur,” he asked.
Admitting that the high price of onion put a financial burden on consumers, Mr. Baragi held the government responsible for the imbalanced situation that puts either farmer or consumer in a fix.
“The government should fix price of onion and purchase through procurement centres. Even if the government fixes ₹2,000 per quintal for onion, it will not only help the farmers to earn profit, at the same time, it would be economical for the consumers also. Otherwise, this disparity will continue to haunt either the farmers or consumers”, he said.
