Onion Sob-story: Peeling a Women's Narrative

Behind the teary headlines on onions, are unknown, unsung women who harvest, store, package, sell and cook the bulb despite odds. Their stories find a voice in a newly released book

Women sorting onions at Kalyan's APMC market. As author Yogesh Prakash Bidwai points out, the women who 'grade' onions on Lasalgaon farms, packing around 50 kg in one unit, earn Rs 240 daily for the classification and packing, which amounts to Rs 7 per 50 kg pack. Pics/ Atul Kamble

Women remain at the core of an Onion's Sob Story. Journalist Yogesh Bidwai has interviewed 60 of them—farmers, packagers, retailers, cooks, small-time restaurateurs and consumers—for insights into onion economics which make it to his newly released book Kandyachi Radkatha (The Unique Academy Publications, Rs 150, 150 Pages). "At the outset, my book is about the soaring onion prices, the unreasonable annual onion shortage and the unexplained onion wastage [and decay] due to poor storage. But, at the heart of the sob story are women who suffer the most because of India's failure to market the bulb crop," says Bidwai, 42, who has been studying onions through the gender lens for five years now. He calls it the "women's crop" because the female gender is closely associated with onions—from plantation to consumption. The book is undoubtedly oriented towards statistics and macro issues of onion farming, onion market flaws and export regulations, but from the chapters peep unknown invisible women whose labour goes into the fluctuating onion trade.

Bidwai enjoys an onion-connect from the time he was born in 1977 in Lasalgaon, known for the GI-marked onions sold in the township's trademark (the world's largest and oldest) onion mart. Although his father was employed in the Nasik District Cooperative Bank and mother a homemaker, the immediate family had several onion-growers. Going to onion farms during vacations and eating the iconic Lalaji's Bhel (with finely cut onion adding the crunch) was part of growing up joys. Schooling in Lasalgaon and nearby Vinchur involved interactions with children from farmers' families; onion truck loads coming to the Lasalgaon APMC (Agricultural Market Produce Committee) was a common sight. "In farms, packaging units, onion grading centres, retail mandis or kitchens, I have grown up seeing the bulb crop in the hands of women. Although women are not the frontrunners of the business, they are the backend toiling force… my mavshis and kakis who cook the best onion recipes remain intact in my consciousness," says Bidwai.

Onions (and the imagery they evoke) never left Bidwai even after he shifted to Nasik for college education and later to Mumbai for a job in the media (earlier TV channels and now the Lokmat news desk). His Lasalgaon identity prompted him to observe onion price rise with an insider perspective. He couldn't relate to the 'urban' nervousness over the onion shortage and resultant price rise (a record Rs 150 per kilo this year in Mumbai). Bidwai wondered about restaurants cutting down on onion salad offerings; also felt that urban dwellers needed to be educated about the inside story, so that they don't blame the onion-producing farmer for the scarcity.

The onion crop is dependent on the ever-unreliable monsoons. This year's untimely rains affected onions in ways indescribable. Also, there are other factors which do not come to the fore in public discourse; onions in India are not stored in climate-appropriate scientific warehouses; onion export is regulated by the government (even a small-sized country like Holland ranks higher than India in onion export) as onions fall under essential commodities; its availability in urban markets is a political priority which often sidelines the business interests of the growers. In short, farmers do not get the due competitive price for their onions despite record production. Bidwai feels the human side of the onion story needs to be represented fairly in the city-centric news media. "When I saw my own colleagues cursing the farmers for the crisis, I took it on myself to bare the policy paralysis in the onion saga. I felt I was morally bound to evaluate the issue."

After China, India is the second-largest onion producer in the world. Laughably so, against the over 23.5 million tons produced in a year, India consumes only about 15.5 million tons. Unfortunately, India suffers 30 per cent storage losses due to poor climate-controlled cold storage. The problem, therefore, lies in the leadership's inability to manage the surplus, rather than managing scarcity. Imposing an export ban and stock limit is just an unimaginative way to arrest prices, states Bidwai's Kandyachi Radkatha. The book is the starting point of his long-term research, which encompasses multiple aspects—the onion's genesis in Asia, its popularity as a food ingredient, nationwide instances of onion-related fistfights caused by scarcity. Bidwai feels the issue is skewed in favour of city dwellers, whom the government pacifies by regulating onion prices. As in the super-recent history, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government faced bitter criticism for spiralling onion prices. This is not the first time that the humble onion has become the lens through which the country's lacklustre economic growth and inflationary conditions are being viewed.

Bidwai feels the onion's woeful tale is regrettable, more so because it involves high stakes. It could have been a great Make-In-India story. "Growing onions is not a minor backyard enterprise. It involves big money. It is grown on over 13 lakh hectare of agricultural space, of which Maharashtra accounts for one lakh hectare. Its export gets us massive foreign exchange. The average wholesale onion prices had recorded an all-time high of R8,625 per quintal in December 2019," says Bidwai, adding that he is particularly hurt by the state of the kharif crop subsistence-level onion growers. Unlike the large farm chains, these small units (whole family is often deployed in the farm in scorching Sun) depend on poor irrigation and poorer storage.

Bidwai was moved to write the book when he heard city-dwellers, especially media colleagues, blame the onion crisis on farmers, when in fact, according to him, it’s a policy failure

Varied women's perspectives have strengthened Bidwai's onion research. For instance, he has devoted considerable time to talk to 1,000-odd women who 'grade' onions on Lasalgaon farms. After classifying onions as per their sizes, women pack around 50 kg in one unit; they earn R240 daily for the classification and packing, which amounts to Rs 7 per 50 kg pack. The onion-holding hand-made jute bags also provide another source of employment for women. In Nasik district, around 5,000 women who make these bags are paid an average of 50 paise per bag. After a prolonged protest and rasta roko, women recently succeeded in getting an additional 10 paise per bag. The Lasalgaon APMC chairperson Suvarna Jagtap—a woman elected to the body for the first time—says she is happy that the new rate will be applicable from April this year. The issue of underpayment has also been brought to the notice of the Labor Commissioner. "My efforts are directed at the jute bag makers, the lowest end of the onion business chain. If such women are compensated better in the coming years, I will feel vindicated," says Bidwai.

He follows onion news with a microscope. Be it a crying farmers' video or a protest money order sent to the PM by an onion farmer who lost more than he earned, he has compiled anecdotes indicative of the national mood vis-à-vis onions—such as people exchanging onions (instead of tilgul) on Sankranti day or onion thefts reported in the last one year. For him, any piece of information on onions can help bring fairness in the onion business. In fact, he collects all 'onion forwards' (gifs, infographics, graphs, research articles, government resolutions, international onion journal updates) to strengthen his case for better sensitive handling of onion production in Maharashtra, the topmost onion-growing state in India. Recently, he interacted with Lasalgaon's local poets who have voiced onion truths in free verse. He is following the sob story in metre.

23.5m

The amount of onions produced in India in tons per year. Of this, we consume only about 15.5 million tons and 30 per cent is wasted due to poor cold storage