Gadag: Onion prices on upward spiral for weeks suddenly crashed in Gadag market and teary eyed farmers blamed middlemen during the trading at Agricultural Produce Marketing Cooperative (APMC).
Around 5 tonnes of onions which reached the market from Nasik led to the price crash, opined market analysts.
The prices at Rs 4500 range per quintal on November 29 dropped to Rs 800 (Rs 8/kg) on December 1 in the local market taking farmers by surprise but prices in other markets hovered around Rs 50 per kg.
Farmers blamed APMC and middlemen for the mess in pricing structure and demanded a minimum support price of Rs 4000 per quintal. When APMC authorities agreed for Rs 2500, farmers refused to budge and blamed middlemen for creating artificial scarcity to rule over market onion prices.