After this news was published that evening, there was intense anger among the onion-growers.
In Umrane, Lasalgaon, Satana and Nagpur, they started a sit-in protest against the government's decision to stop selling at auction in these markets, which are famous for onions.
The angry farmers of Umran blocked the Mumbai-Agra national highway and stopped traffic.
The protesters said, "The central government has decided to destroy the farmers. When the price of 10 grams of gold reached Rs 50,000, the price of one kg of meat was Rs 800. The government did not take any action in these sectors. When the farmers were selling onions at Rs 5-6 per kg." Were they asleep then? "
Bharat Digha, president of the Maharashtra Onion-Growers' Association, has condemned the government's decision to ban onion exports.
"If the central government does not lift the ban, farmers will not bring onions to the market and not a single truckload of onions will go out of Maharashtra. The government will be held responsible if there is a shortage of onions and prices go up," he said.
"Farmers will not bow their heads this time," he said.
Onion growers have been selling onions at Rs 4 to 6 per kg since March this year. But it costs them around Rs 20 to produce one kg of onion.
Onion production in India increased by 40 per cent last year due to good weather. As a result, many farmers did not sell their produce immediately but kept it in stock in the hope of selling it at a higher price.
But later on, when a lockdown was imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus, this onion brought tears to the eyes of the farmers.
Due to heavy rains and high humidity in the air this year, 40 to 50 percent of the stored onions rot. The amount of exports this year was also higher than last year. But production was not enough.
Due to heavy rains in July and August, onion crop in Kharif area was severely damaged. Red onion crops were also affected in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
There is also a crisis of red onion seeds in Maharashtra. As a result, the red onion was supposed to be picked from the land in September, but it took a month and a half to get it.
That is why the demand for red onion stored in the market increases. For the last four days, farmers have been getting onion at Rs 30 per kg.
But just two days after the central government banned exports, the price of onion fell to Rs 10 per kg on September 15.
Bhima Dighal has been cultivating onions on five acres of land in Jaigaon area of ​​Nashik. Some onions he has sold in the market and the rest he has stored.
He hoped that the price of onion would go up after August and as a result the cost of its production would go up.
In the beginning he sold some of his onions in the market. He got Rs 400 to Rs 600 per 100 kg of onion. In other words, the price of onion is only four to seven rupees per kg.
It cost him about two and a half lakh rupees to cultivate onions on five acres of land and he hoped to get two and a quarter lakh rupees by selling stored onions. But he noticed that half the onions had rotted because of the bad weather.