Maharashtra Onion Farmers Stage Week-Long ‘Phone Strike’ Against Plummeting Prices

Fast Summary

• Onion farmers in Maharashtra have launched a week-long statewide protest against falling market prices from September 12 to September 18, 2025.
• The protest involves farmers directly calling ministers, MPs, MLAs, and other officials to demand intervention instead of holding rallies or sit-ins.
• More than 500 farmers participated on the first day, contacting key officials such as Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne, and others.
• Farmers recorded conversations with public representatives to coordinate their efforts via WhatsApp groups.
• Bharat dighole (President of the Maharashtra State Onion Producers Farmers Association) highlighted that onion cultivation costs range from ₹2,200-₹2,500 per quintal while current market rates only fetch ₹800-₹1,200 per quintal.
• Farmers demanded export subsidies for international sales stabilization; compensation of ₹1,500 per quintal for prior distress sales; halting subsidized releases from NAFED/NCCF buffer stocks; and pricing policies ensuring at least a 50% profit over production cost.
• Key onion-producing districts such as Nashik and Ahmednagar remain severely affected by financial losses due to low wholesale prices.

Indian Opinion Analysis

The ongoing onion farmer protests in Maharashtra reflect deeper issues within india’s broader agricultural economy-primarily price volatility driven by domestic policies like limited export subsidies or stock release strategies intended to stabilize consumer markets but often hurting producers’ incomes. farmers’ grievances are rooted in systemic challenges such as the absence of robust profit-guaranteeing pricing policies or global trade facilitation frameworks favorable for perishables like onions.

this unusual phone-based protest method underscores the urgency felt by rural stakeholders who struggle amid financial losses despite months of labor-intensive crop storage efforts. policymakers face notable pressure not only from organized farmer associations but also growing scrutiny about balancing competing interests-consumer affordability versus producer sustainability-in staple commodity markets.

If unresolved promptly through targeted government interventions addressing both immediate relief measures (e.g.,compensations/subsidies) and longer-term reforms (e.g., legal mechanisms guaranteeing fair returns), thes localized agitations could spark broader unrest across India’s farming sector reliant on fluctuating market-sensitive crops.

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