MUMBAI: Maharashtra farmers growing onion and soybean expect a big bonanza ahead of the state assembly polls scheduled this yearend. The Centre on Saturday announced buying soybean as per the minimum support price and reduced the tax on exports of onion from 40 to 20%.Chief Minister Eknath Shinde welcomed the decision, saying domestic farmers will get good prices for their produce. State agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde said he was grateful to the Centre for the soybean initiative.“Traders who imported the oil from other countries will now have to buy the oil and raw material within the country. This will lead to direct and indirect benefits,” said Munde. This year, soybean is sown in 52 lakh hectares in Maharashtra and there have been good rains, which is expected to lead to a good harvest season,” Munde said. He said the government has also increased the import duty on the onion that would help domestic farmers.As per these decisions, the import duty on unfiltered oil has increased from 5.5% to 27.7% while tax on refined oil has increased from 13.7% to 35.75%. In the Lok sabha elections, agrarian distress was a major issue damaging the prospects of the BJP and its allies. The ruling Mahayuti won only 17 LS seats against its earlier tally of 41. The Opposition benefited by winning 31 seats out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
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