‘net profit’ for 512 kg onions

Deduction of labour, weighing, transportation & other charges leave paltry sum for Solapur agri worker

First India Bureau

Pune:

It was a rude shock for a Solapur farmer when he ‘earned’ a profit of merely Rs2.49 against the sale of 512 kg onions to a trader in the district.

The farmer, 63-yearold Rajendra Chavan who resides in Barshi tehsil of Solapur, said his onion yield fetched a price of Rs1 per kg at the Solapur market yard. He added that he received the paltry sum after all the deductions last week.

Talking to PTI, Chavan said, “I had sent 10 bags of onions weighing more than five quintals to an onion trader in Solapur for sale. But after deducting charges towards loading, transport, labour and others, I received a net profit of just Rs2.49 from him.”

The rate the trader offered to me was Rs100 per quintal. The overall weight of the crop was 512 kg and the total price he got for the produce was Rs512, he said. “After deductions worth Rs509.51 against labour, weighing, transportation and other charges, I received a net profit of Rs2.49. This is an insult to me and other onion-growers in the state. If we get

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He said the onion farmers need to get a good price for the crop and the affected farmers get compensation.

While Chavan claimed that the produce was of good qual- ity, the trader said it was low grade. “The farmer had brought only 10 bags and the produce was also of low grade. That is why he received the Rs100 per quintal rate. So after all the deductions, he got Rs2 as net profit,” the trader said.

He added that the same farmer had received good returns in the recent past by selling more than 400 bags to me. “This time he brought the remaining produce that was hardly 10 bags and since the prices have gone down, he got this rate,” he said.

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First India Bureau

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Mumbai: Three persons were killed and one was left injured after the car they were travelling in veered off the road and flipped over three times in the Pune district in the early hours of Friday, an official said. Three members of a family from Latur district were on their way to Pune when they met with the accident around 3.20 am, the official said.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday advised actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his estranged wife to try to amicably resolve their differences pertaining to their two minor children.

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A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice PD Naik asked the actor and his wife to speak and try to resolve their differences over the children.

After deductions worth `509.51 against labour, weighing, transportation and other charges, I received a net profit of `2.49. This is an insult to me and other onion-growers in the state. If we get such returns, how will we survive?

—Rajendra Chavan, Farmer

Storage Issues

According to farmers leader and former MP Raju Shetti, onion hitting the market now is a ‘kharip’ produce and cannot be stored for a long time. “This onion needs to be sold in the market immediately and exported out. But due to glut, the prices of onions have nosedived in the market,” he said. He added that this onion is not being purchased by NAFED, so the government should make the market available for this ‘kharif’ onion. The government should buy this onion or give subsidies to farmers, he said.