PABNA, Mar 29: Pabna accounts for almost two-thirds of the country's total onion production. This year, onion has been cultivated in more land than the target in the district. The yielding of the bulbous or tuber variety of onion has been good. But growers don't get expected prices.
Onion cultivation has been increasing in Pabna for several decades. Onion cultivation plays an important role in the agricultural economy of this region. But recently, the 'early death' disease appeared in the onion fields. In addition, the weather has not been good for a few days. So, growers are in concern of crop failure.
New onion saplings have been selling in markets for several days. On Tuesday, per maund onion was selling at Tk 1,100 to 1,250 at wholesale levels. A week back, the price was Tk 9,500 to 1,050 per maund.
Besides, the price of Murikata or tuber variety onion at the wholesale level is Tk 600 to 700 per maund. Growers said, if the market remains like this, it will be difficult for them to cover the cost.
Farmers who have cultivated onion on leased lands will have to count higher losses.
According to sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)-Pabna, the target of onion cultivation in the district this year was 52,801 hectares (ha) of land with production target of 7,82,532 metric tons (mt). But the cultivation was made on 53,150 ha. Of this, the tuber onion was cultivated on 8,961 ha and saplings on 44,221 ha of land.
The target of the production of tuber or bulb onion was 1,22,596 mt. The production has been 1,41,754 mt. So far, onion saplings have been cut from 2,657 ha of land.
According to the DAE, the country's largest onion-producing upazila is Sujanagar Upazila in Pabna, followed by Santhia Upazila. This time, onion saplings have been cultivated on 17,710 ha of land at Sujanagar, and 15,040 ha in at Santhia.
According to farmers and the DAE sources, two types of onion are cultivated in Pabna: one is tuber or bulb and other is sapling or halii.
Bulb onion is cultivated from October to November. That onion is cut in January-February. Onion saplings are cultivated from December to January. The harvesting starts from mid-March. The harvesting continues till the end of April.
Visits made to the onion fields in three upazilas- Santhia, Sujanagar and Bera.
While talking with this correspondent of The Daily Observer, growers said, recently onion plants were affected by a disease, with their leaves drying.
Now, per bigha onion yielding is 35-55 maunds.
M Shafiqul Islam, a farmer from Boalmari Village at Santhia, said, "The yielding of onion has decreased slightly due to rain and wind." He cultivated onions on five bighas of land. He has started harvesting.
Onion yielding is available at 45 to 55 maunds per bigha. Excluding the land lease cost, the onion cultivation cost is Tk 45,000 to 50,000 per bigha.
Sirajul Islam, a farmer from Punduria Village in the upazila, said, "Last year, seeing the good price of onion, I cultivated onion on a little more land this time. But the price of onion is not there in the market. Besides, there is a risk of low yield."
Saidul Islam, a farmer from Barashila Village in Bera Upazila, said, "A lot of money has been spent on onion cultivation this year. There was a light rain a few days ago. Due to this, plants were affected by the disease. That is why the cost has also increased. Besides, there is a possibility of low yield due to this disease."
Md Karim Hossain, an onion and vegetable trader at Ekdanta Haat in Atgharia Upazila, said, the current market for onion is good for buyers; however, if the wholesale market price is a little higher, growers will benefit, and buyers will also have purchasing power.
Sanjib Kumar Goswami, Agriculture Officer of Santhia Upazila, said, "There were some diseases and pests. However, the onion bulbs have already grown quite large. This will not cause any disruption to the onion yield. We have advised growers to harvest onions from the land after they are mature. Then they can keep these in houses for a long time and sell these slowly. This will also help them get good prices."
The onion sapling harvesting till March 23 was about 13 mt per ha. Rafiul Islam, Agriculture Officer of Sujanagar Upazila, said, due to rain and strong wind in mid-February, onion plants nosedived. Till Monday, the onion was harvested from 3,215 ha of land in the upazila. This resulted in a yield of about 17.50 mt per ha of Kings variety, about 22 mt of hybrid, and about 12.50 mt of Taherpuri.
