Almost 70 percent population of Nasik district in Maharashtra live in rural areas and are entirely dependent on agriculture. Onion, grapes, sugarcane, wheat, corn, pomegranate, tomato and vegetables are the main crops. Last week, post demonetisation, tomato prices dropped to Rs 2 per kg and onion prices dipped as low as 30 paisa per kg. As a result, farmers had to throw away 20 lakh kilos of tomatoes.
Dilip Mahale, a farmer in Dindori Taluka, said, “It costs Rs 4,200 to rent a tractor trolley and transport one tonne tomato to APMC (Agricultural produce market committee). That means we will end up in paying Rs 4.20 per kg merely for transportation, while the price we get in the APMC is Rs 2 per kg.” Same is the case for onion growers, but their sole relief stems from the fact that onions can be stored for a week.
However, onion is grown over 30,000 hectares or 75,000 acres in Nasik district and over 95 percent of onion growers are marginal farmers who own less than 5 acres of land. “This means that over 15,000 families depend on the prices that onion gets in the APMCs. What will happen to them? What will they do if they don’t get good prices or the cash to live,” said Dr. Girdhar Patil, a farmer and an activist. Farmers also need money for the kharif season, but do not have enough cash to buy seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.
“We need cash to buy these and pay wages to the farm labourers. We cannot withdraw our own money from the district co-operative bank where we have our account,” said Dilip Mahale. Over 13 lakh farmers are account holders in the Nasik district cooperative bank. “My onion, pomegranate and tomato crops are ready to be taken to the market and I need cash. I cannot wait for 50 days as my crops will perish by then,” said Mahale.
The Nasik district administration has to arrange for the salaries of 33,000 government employees and pension payments of 30,000 retired employees, which amount to nearly Rs 500 crore. The banks have to provide currency for the payments of industrial labour, industrial staff & ordinary citizens. All banks put together in Nasik have a cash of Rs 550 crore in their chest and bankers are equally confused about meeting the requirements.
