Premature harvest of onions behind price hike
Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque on Monday said the price of onion is not coming down, as there is shortage of the bulb after farmers harvested them prematurely for more profit.
The minister said this while addressing a seminar in Gazipur.
National Agriculture Training Academy (NATA) organised the meeting.
The minister said farmers could not get expected yield of onions last year due to unusual rain.
This rainfall also led to an onion crisis in the country, he added.
Abdur Razzaque also underscored the need for mechanising and commercialising the agriculture sector so that farmers can be benefitted.
Traders have hiked the price of the bulb, citing a supply crunch following drizzles in many parts of the country for a few days since Thursday.
The local variety of the essential kitchen item was selling at Tk 180-200 per kilogramme at the retail market on Monday.
At the same time, the imported ones were selling at Tk 100-120 a kilogramme there.
One month ago, the local onion sold at Tk 240-250 per kg while the imported one at Tk 90-210, according to data from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). The sudden price hike caused outrage among consumers.
The price came down as low as Tk 100 and Tk 50 for the two varieties respectively after the local bulb and imported one hit the market.
But it started soaring again after light rain hit the country from Thursday and reached Tk 200 a kg.
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