Maharashtra onion farmers launch seven-day ‘phone strike’ over crashing prices 

Onion farmers in Maharashtra have launched a seven-day statewide agitation against plummeting market prices, adopting an unusual method of protest, directly calling ministers, MPs, MLAs, and other public representatives to demand immediate intervention.

The campaign, organised by the Maharashtra State Onion Producers Farmers Association, began on Friday (September 12, 2025) and will continue until September 18. Farmers said that unlike sit-ins or rallies, this protest is designed to confront policymaker’s one-on-one, with every elected representative in the State expected to receive calls over the next week.

On the first day, more than 500 farmers participated, contacting senior officials, including the personal assistants of Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde; Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne; Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil; School Education Minister Dada Bhuse; Water Resources Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil; Marketing and Protocol Minister Jayakumar Rawal; and Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat. Several MPs, MLAs, and district-level officials also received calls.

Farmers recorded their conversations and circulated them in their WhatsApp group, along with numbers and timelines, to coordinate the protest. In one instance, farmer Yogesh Wani from Puntamba village in Ahilyanagar district questioned Pasha Patel, chairman of the Maharashtra Agricultural Prices Commission, on whether he was aware of the steep fall in onion prices.

Another farmer, Satish Ramesh Sawkar from Joran village in Baglan taluka of Nashik, shared his call recording with Agriculture Minister Bharne, who reportedly assured him the matter would be raised in Delhi.

Bharat Dighole, president of the association, said the aim was to ensure that no public representative could claim ignorance of farmers’ plight. He also criticised what he described as the State’s indifference, pointing out that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had visited Nashik quietly two days ago. “If we had known, we would have gone to meet him there with our concerns,” Mr. Dighole said.

The farmers argue that the crisis has deepened over the past five to six months, when summer onions stored in paddy fields were sold far below cost of production. “While cultivating onions costs between ₹2,200 and ₹2,500 per quintal, farmers are receiving only ₹800 to ₹1,200, leading to substantial financial losses,” Mr. Dighole said.

He demanded export subsidies to stabilise international sales, compensation of ₹1,500 per quintal for farmers who sold at distress rates in recent months, and an immediate halt to the release of onions from National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF) buffer stocks at subsidised prices. “These measures depress the market further and push farmers deeper into crisis,” he said.

The association also reiterated its long-standing demand for a pricing policy that guarantees farmers at least 50% profit over cultivation costs, while ending what it called “anti-farmer” decisions such as export bans, stock limits, and hoarding.

“The phone protest is meant to directly communicate farmers’ anguish to decision-makers. We have stored onions for months, but instead of getting fair rates, our produce is wasted. The government only thinks of consumer prices, not the farmer’s livelihood. We will continue this struggle until fair prices are ensured,” Mr. Dighole said.

The protest highlights growing distress in key onion-producing districts such as Nashik, Ahmednagar, and Dhule, where wholesale prices remain far below cost. Farmers said they are determined to sustain their campaign until they secure what they describe as their rightful earnings.