The onion farmers of Maharashtra appear to be at the receiving end of climate change. For the last two years, farmers from Ahmednagar and Nasik have been experiencing heavy rainfall. But this year, the monsoon season that continued till October, has brought along disease. Much of the onion crop has been destroyed after being infected with a fungal disease called Anthracnose, which tends to attack plants in the spring when the weather is cool and wet."

Sandeep Kokate, a farmer from Yeola taluka, 35.3 km from Lasalgaon, Nasik, said, "I had nearly 500 quintals of onions in stock and suddenly, due to heavy rainfall and fungal infection [Anthracnose], nearly 70 per cent of my stock got destroyed. I had to sell stock for as cheap as R7 per kg at Lasalgaon. We are not even able to get a break even." According to Kokate, the condition has worsened over the last two years. "The extended monsoon season has been wreaking havoc."