Mandasur, Madhya Pradesh: Farmers in the Malwa-Nimar belt of Madhya Pradesh, one of India’s largest onion-producing regions, have staged a dramatic protest by performing the “last rites” or funeral procession for their crop. The grim demonstration highlights the financial devastation caused by wholesale prices that have plummeted to as low as Rs 1 to Rs 10 per kilogram, far below the estimated Rs 10 to Rs 12 per kg production cost.
The agony facing the cultivators is largely attributed to the Centre’s 25% export duty on onions. Farmers argue that this duty has severely hampered the competitiveness of Indian onions in the global market, leading to a sharp drop in exports. The resulting domestic oversupply has caused market prices to crash, leaving farmers unable to recover their investment.
“Onions are like our children. The government isn’t paying even our costs,” said a visibly upset protesting farmer, Devi Lal Vishwakarma. Another farmer, Badri Lal Dhakad, warned of the wider implications, stating, “We’re not just losing money; we’re losing our future.” The farmers claim that repeated appeals to the central government to reduce the export duty have gone unanswered.
In Mandsaur, a district historically associated with agrarian unrest, farmers warned that the symbolic ‘funeral procession’ is just the beginning of their agitation if the government fails to intervene immediately by lifting the duty and ensuring fair prices.
