The Chief Minister's Office of Maharashtra announced on Thursday, 28 May 2026 that NAFED and NCCF will procure onions directly from farmers, bypassing traders — a move attributed to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Context

The CMO's post, shared in Marathi, states: 'नाफेड, एनसीसीएफची कांदा खरेदी व्यापाऱ्यांऐवजी थेट शेतकऱ्यांकडून' — ('NAFED and NCCF's onion procurement directly from farmers, instead of traders'). The announcement signals a direct market intervention in Maharashtra's onion sector, where farmer distress during surplus seasons has been a recurring concern.

NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) and NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India) are central cooperative bodies that have historically been deployed for price-support procurement of perishable commodities. By routing purchases through these agencies rather than through the trader network, the government aims to ensure that farm-gate prices reach cultivators directly.

Policy Backdrop

Maharashtra is India's largest onion-producing state, with major growing belts concentrated in Nashik, Ahmednagar, and surrounding districts. The state has witnessed repeated cycles of price crashes during bumper harvest seasons, leaving farmers unable to recover input costs even as consumer prices remain elevated due to intermediary margins.

Central cooperative procurement under mechanisms such as the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) has been used periodically to stabilise farm-gate rates. The Operation Greens initiative, launched in 2018, similarly sought to address price volatility in onions, tomatoes, and potatoes through supply-chain interventions. The current directive appears to extend this policy lineage into the 2026 procurement season.

Direct procurement by NAFED and NCCF effectively removes the trader layer from the price chain, reducing the spread between what farmers receive and what the agencies pay — a model that has drawn both support from farmer groups and scrutiny over implementation capacity at the village level.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of this arrangement are onion farmers across Maharashtra's producing districts, who have long complained that commission agents and traders capture a disproportionate share of the final sale price. Direct procurement is intended to transfer a larger portion of the purchase price to the cultivator.

Traders and commission agents operating at Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) stand to see reduced volume flowing through their channels if the scheme is implemented at scale. The degree of impact will depend on the procurement volumes that NAFED and NCCF are authorised to absorb in the current season — details that have not yet been officially disclosed.

Consumers may also be affected: when central agencies procure and release stocks into the market in a calibrated manner, it can moderate retail price spikes during lean supply periods, a pattern observed in previous NAFED interventions.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to district-level rollout — specifically, which procurement centres will be activated, what floor price will be offered, and the total volume NAFED and NCCF are mandated to purchase in Maharashtra this season. Any parallel decisions on onion export policy or additional state-level price-support allocations will shape how much relief ultimately reaches farmers. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is expected to face questions on implementation timelines as the kharif onion harvest approaches.