Mumbai, May 26 : Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will hold a meeting at his Delhi residence on Wednesday to address the crisis confronting Maharashtra's onion growers and the cooperative sugar industry.

The meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m., will be attended by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, along with senior ministers, legislators and representatives of cooperative sugar bodies.

The intervention comes amid mounting stress in the stateâ??s agrarian economy, with onion farmers reeling under a sharp price crash and the sugar sector facing policy uncertainties and rising costs due to the export ban.

Ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Shivendraraje Bhosale, legislators Dilip Walse Patil, Jayant Patil, Vinay Kore, Abhimanyu Pawar, the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Chairman Harshvardhan Patil and the Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories in Maharashtra Chairman PR Patil will also attend the meeting.

The onion belt of Maharashtra -- primarily Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and parts of Marathwada -- is witnessing severe farm distress. Despite strong production, a convergence of adverse weather and geopolitical bottlenecks has driven wholesale prices to a fraction of production costs.

In several Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) like Satana, Lasalgaon, and Paithan, wholesale rates for below-average quality onions crashed to between 50 paise and Re 1 per kg in early May. Premium-quality stocks are being secured at only Rs 12 to Rs 15 per kg.

According to data from the State Agriculture Department, cultivation rose to 10 lakh hectares in the 2025-26 season, yielding a bumper 165-170 lakh metric tonnes. However, input costs (seeds, fertilisers, labour, and transport) average Rs 18 to Rs 20 per kg, leading to severe financial losses for cultivators.

The ongoing conflict in West Asia has severely hit traditional export markets like the Arab nations and Iran. Container freight prices from India skyrocketed from $600 to $6,500, pricing out Indian exporters while competitors like Egypt and Yemen supply these markets via overland trucks. Over 150 containers remain stranded at Mumbaiâ??s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

Unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms across North Maharashtra and Marathwada have compromised the quality and shelf-life of the rabi harvest, forcing desperate farmers to execute immediate distress sales.

On May 15, 2026, the Central Government announced it would procure 2 lakh tonnes of onions via NAFED and NCCF at Rs 12.35 per kg (Rs 1,235 per quintal). The Maharashtra State Onion Growersâ?? Association has strongly rejected this rate, calling it inadequate to cover basic inputs and demanding a minimum floor price of Rs 30 per kg along with a Rs 1,500 per quintal subsidy for past losses.

Taking note of ongoing agitation launched by onion growers, the Centre on Monday decided to increase the procurement price set by NAFED for onions from Rs 12.35 to Rs 15.80 per kg. However, the onion growers have said it was not enough when the production cost is Rs 18 to Rs 20 per kg. The onion growers have launched fresh agitation in Chandwad from Nashik district, demanding a minimum purchase of Rs 30 per kg. They have warned not to allow even an inch of movement on the Mumbai-Agra highway.

In the case of Maharashtra cooperative sugar industry, despite the state concluding the 2025-26 crushing season as India's top sugar-producing state -- crushing 1,044.21 lakh tonnes of cane to yield 99.20 lakh tonnes of sugar -- the sector faces immense structural friction. On May 13, 2026, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) imposed an immediate ban on the export of raw, white, and refined sugar until September 30, 2026, to secure a domestic supply and control retail inflation. This came just three months after the Centre had permitted exports in February 2026.

The ruling and opposition parties, along with farmer bodies such as the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and Swabhiman Shetkari Sanghatana, criticised the policy flip-flop, saying it cuts off high-value international revenues at a time when global demand is peaking.

While the Centre raised the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) paid to cane farmers to Rs 365 per quintal for the upcoming season, the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of sugar has remained frozen at Rs 31 per kg since 2019. However, the sugar industry has pointed out that the average production cost for mills has soared to Rs 41.72 per kg, leading to a widening viability gap.

Moreover, the financial squeeze on mills has trickled down to the sugarcane growers. As of mid-May 2026, 83 sugar mills across Maharashtra owe Rs 934 crore in outstanding FRP dues to farmers. The Sugar Commissionerate has initiated hearings and issued seizure warnings to non-compliant factories.

Adding to the distress, the IMD has projected the 2026 Southwest Monsoon at 92 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) amid emerging El Nino warnings, sparking fears of a sharp cane shortfall for the 2026-27 crushing season beginning in October.

A senior minister said that for both onion and sugar, the overarching friction stems from an imbalance between rising domestic cultivation costs and restrictive trade policies designed to keep retail inflation low, pushing the financial burden directly onto the rural economy. He argued that, against this backdrop, the Centreâ??s bailout package is needed to help crisis-ridden onion growers and the cooperative sugar industry to survive.

/IANS