Farmers suffering due to increased input costs: Supriya Sule slams Centre

Nationalist Congress Party NCP leader Supriya Sule on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPled Central government of being antifarmer and said that the farmers are suffering due to the increased input costs reported news agency ANIShe criticised the central governments decision to impose 40 per cent duty on onion exportThis government BJPled central govt is against the farmersThe farmers are suffering due to the increased price of fuel and fertilizers When they dont get MSP Minimum Support Price for every crop what they will do As I said this government Central government is antifarmer Supriya Sule said while talking to reportersShe said that the central government was constantly coming up with antifarmer policies If farmers fail to get enough returns for their produce they will have to stop farming as it will not be an affordable occupation for them anymore Sule saidThe NCP leader said that while onions were in surplus in India the export of the crop is not allowed by the Central government depriving the prospect of farmers getting high pricesI tweeted four months ago addressing Piyush Goyal that onion is in high demand in the global market and it is in surplus in India But the central government not allowed onions to be exported it was a completely flawed policy for the farmers Supriya Sule saidSeveral opposition leaders have criticised the Centres decision saying that farmers would not be able to earn enough if they have to pay such a high dutyMaharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said cold storages can provide a permanent solution to onion farmers woes and he has directed officials to work on the issueSpeaking at a press conference along with deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar he also said that the government is working on the concept of onion bank and a panel headed by senior scientist and former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar has been set up for itA section of farmers has been protesting against the Union governments decision to impose 40 per cent export duty on onion a move aimed at dealing with price instability of the kitchen stapleThere is a need to set up cold storages for onions If this happens there will be a permanent solution to the problems faced by farmers The concerned department has been directed to work on twothree options to address this Shinde saidNashik Ahmednagar and parts of Pune district form a major onionproducing belt in MaharashtraThe chief minister further said that the state government is in touch with the Centre over the issue and has spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Commerce Minister Piyush GoyalState Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde went to Delhi on Monday night to meet Goyal he addedWith inputs ANI and PTI