Mumbai, March 30 -- As the wholesale price of onion has nearly halved to Rs.800 per quintal in the wake of the war in west Asia, making it difficult for farmers to recover their production costs, the largest onion farmers' association in Maharashtra has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to implement the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), a central government policy to protect farmers from distress sale when prices fall below the cost of production. In a letter to the chief minister dated March 28, the Nashik-based Maharashtra Onion Producer Farmers' Association said in the previous four weeks, the war had stranded more than 150 containers packed with onions in various ports, leading to a glut in domestic markets and sending wholesale prices crashing. "In the last week of February, before the war began, onion prices were well above Rs.1,500 per quintal. But in the last three days, prices have crashed to Rs.800 per quintal and below, in some cases as low as Rs.300 per quintal," Bharat Dighole, president of the onion farmers' association told Hindustan Times. The cost of onion production was more than Rs.1,000 per quintal and the crash had left farmers reeling under losses, he noted. The letter to the chief minister also alluded to the crash in prices, saying, "Gravity of situation and price fall of around 50% clearly shows distress sale of onion in the market. It fulfills the criteria for the government's intervention. So the state government should immediately send a proposal to the central government for implementing the MIS. This will help prices go up." Onion farmers were already facing problems due export policies and the war had only intensified the crisis, the letter said. Exports had fallen from 2.5 million tonne to 1.2 million tonne in the past two years owing to export policy hurdles, it said. "The government should procure onion at the tehsil level to give respite to farmers," Dighole said. Pasha Patel, chief of the Maharashtra State Agricultural Price Commission, said that the chief minister was looking into the issue of onion prices and he would meet union commerce minister Piyush Goyal soon over the export issue. "Onion prices have been going down since the past few weeks and the chief minister already held a meeting on it three days ago. He has ordered the administration to set up a committee comprising additional chief secretaries of the agriculture and finance departments and the secretary of the marketing department to recommend immediate measures to help onion farmers. He has also assured that he will be meeting Goyal soon over the issue," Patel told HT. Onion supply has been increased and efforts were being made to ensure a market for sale, he said....