A farmer in Maharashtra's Nasik district, furious at the state and central government for not ensuring that he gets the right value for his produce, today set on fire his own onion farms, which took him months to cultivate.
Krishna Dongre, a farmer in Nasik's Yeola taluka, has burnt his entire 1.5 acre onion farm after not getting the right prices for the produce. Speaking to NDTV, he said he has already spent Rs 1.5 lakh on the crop over four months, and will have to spend another Rs 30,000 to transport it to the market. However, all he will get at the current rate being offered for the onions is just Rs 25,000.
"I worked day and night for four months to grow these onions in 1.5 acres," Mr Dongre said, adding that he is now forced to burn the crop "due to the mistakes of the state and union government".
He said he'll have to pay from his own pocket at the current procurement rate. "The state and Center should think about standing with the farmers," he said.
Krishna Dongre claimed that nobody from the state government reached out to them. "They had 15 days, and they didn't even show any empathy. That 'don't do this, we will do something for the farmers'. Nobody came to say even this," he said.
Mr Dongre said he had written a letter with his blood to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde inviting him to the onion burning ceremony so that he could see the condition of farmers himself.
He demanded that the government procure all their harvest at fixed Minimum Support Prices. "For our current losses, they should pay us all Rs 1,000 as compensation," he added.
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