The association has appointed retired secretary of the Mahuva APMC to handle trading operations. (Representational photo: AP)

In a first, onion traders and dehydrated onion producers of Bhavnagar have started a private agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) near the Mahuva APMC, as the almost 70-day- long dispute with commission agents has not been resolved. This private APMC has started operations from Thursday and on the first day, about 7,000 bags (a bag of 50 kg) arrived, almost similar to arrivals at the Gujarat government-run APMC.

The dispute surfaced after commission agents had refused the demand of dehydrated onion producers to reduce the commission of 3% to 2%. In addition to that, commission agents of the APMC also want the payment credit cycle of 9 days, against 15 days now. Though onion traders and dehydration producers agreed to the commission agents’ demand of reduction in the payment credit cycle, agents refused to lower commission.

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Despite intervention by APMC officials, this issue has not been sorted out, and finally, the All India Dehydration Association has stared a separate trading market near the APMC.

This is the first time in Gujarat and probably in India that a private APMC for onion has started. We have tried to resolve the dispute with commission agents, but they are not agreeing with us. So, we have started our own APMC. The president of the Mahuva APMC did not support us in this issue, said Vitthal Koradiya, past president of the association. He is taking care of the management of this APMC.

The association has appointed retired secretary of the Mahuva APMC to handle trading operations. According to the association, as the Gujarat government had removed trading of onion from the APMC Act in 2015, anyone can buy or sell the commodity anywhere.

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Mahuva is the second-largest trading centre of onion in India after Nashik. As the APMC Act has changed, a private APMC started by onion traders and dehydrated producers is a legal place for trading. There is no middlemen in this APMC and we are passing this benefit to farmers,” said SK Seta, manager of the private APMC and retired secretary of the Mahuva APMC.

Seta claimed that they are paying about Rs 5-7 more per 20 kg to farmers as traders, compared with the government’s APMC. It saves APMC’s taxes and commission charges applicable on buyers.

Mahuva APMC is known for onion trading in Gujarat and more than 100 dehydration units have been located in this area due to easy availability of raw onion. Moreover, the it is also a leading supply centre of onion to the north India. During the peak season, arrival of onion reach to over 1-1.25 lakh bags in Mahuva, while it reduces to about 15,000 bags during off season.