Late onion planting worries farmers

Farmers in the district are worried over fall in onion production due to late planting of seeds this year, but at the same time they are happy with high prices in the markets.

Onion cultivation is usually completed within December every year but it began early January this year due to the excessive rain. Rain damaged most of the seedbeds in the district, farmers and agriculture officials said.

“We could not plant seeds in December due to damage to seedbeds caused by excessive rain in November and December. I planted seedlings on 30 bighas of land this month and will harvest the crop in April, which is later than normal harvesting time,” said onion farmer Md Idris Ali at Satbaria village in Sujanagar upazila.

“Last year, onion was sold at Tk 600 to Tk 800 per maund, while it is Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,300 this year. Good onion price inspired me to cultivate on more land this year but the production may fall due to late cultivation, so I might not get expected profit,” said farmer Md Abul Hannan at Satbaria village.

The district Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director (DD) Bibhuti Bhushan Sarkar said around 44,000 hectares of land were brought under onion cultivation in nine upazilas of the district this year with a target of production of six lakh tonnes, although the production target was fixed at 4.76 lakh tonnes from 34,000 hectares.

More than 20,000 hectares of land were brought under onion cultivation in Sujanagar upazila, the highest onion farming upazila in the country, he added.

“Pabna is the highest onion producing district in the country, but farmers could not plant it on time, so they are worried that production might fall. Still we are hopeful that we will get expected production if there is no major natural crisis,” Bibhuti said.