An onion farmer from Maharashtra has sent his earnings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in protest after he was forced to sell his produce for a little over Re 1 a kg. Another has sent a money order of Rs 6 to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Sanjay Sathe from Niphad taluka in Nashik, who had earned a paltry Rs 1,064 after selling 750kg of onions, donated the sum to the Disaster Relief Fund of the PMO through a money order.

Shreyas Abhale of Ahmednagar district said he had been left with just Rs 6 after selling 2,657kg onions at just over Re 1 a kilogram and deducting his labour and transport expenses.

“I spent almost Rs 2 lakh on the onion crop and earned just Rs 6,” he said.

Farmers in Nashik district, which produces half of India’s onions, say a glut in production has reduced prices.

Two farmers from the district have allegedly committed suicide over the past two days, apparently because of indebtedness and low prices.

Tatyabhau Khairnar, 44, hanged himself while Manoj Dhondage, 33, drank poison, police said.

An officer said Khairnar was found hanging in his onion shed in Bhadane village on Friday.

“No suicide note was found on his body,” he added.

Khairnar’s relatives have claimed he could not sell his 500 quintals of onions because of the low prices.

“They said Khairnar had an outstanding bank loan of Rs 11 lakh,” the officer said.

Dhondage “was found unconscious in his farm with a bottle of poisonous chemical near him on Friday and died in hospital on Saturday morning”, another officer said.

“His family said his outstanding loan was Rs 21 lakh and he could not sell his produce because of the poor rates in the wholesale market.”