Farmers in Faridpur are busy transplanting hali onion seedlings. Across the farmland of the district's nine upazilas, planting is now in full swing, and more than a lakh farming families are weaving new dreams of financial security through the crop.

In Sadar, Saltha, Nagarkanda, Sadarpur, Bhanga, Charbhadrasan, Boalmari, Alfadanga and Madhukhali upazilas, housewives, sons, daughters and other relatives are helping the farmers, alongside more than a lakh male and female labourers from the area and from other districts.

Faridpur is known as the second-ranking onion district, and a large share of the country's onions comes from it, so every November and December farmers here are busy planting different kinds of onion.

Good prices over the past few years have led farmers to plant a larger area this year, a record for the district. Across the nine upazilas, farmers are planting hali and murikata onions.

According to the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), onions are being grown on 43,260 hectares in Faridpur this year, more than last year. Of this, murikata onions are being planted on 5,300 hectares and hali onions on 36,140 hectares, and planting of onions for seed has begun on 1,820 hectares.

In various parts of Nagarkanda, Boalmari and Saltha, farmers were busy planting from morning to evening, and planting will continue throughout December.

Farid Molla of Bhawal village in Bhawal union, Saltha upazila, said: "Because onion prices have been good, more farmers have turned to onions this year. Every day from dawn, seedlings are pulled and planted in the fields."

Obaidur Rahman, a farmer in Saltha Para, said: "Saltha upazila is known as the capital of onions. Preparations for tending and planting hali seedlings have only just begun. Some have started, and it will be in full swing in a few days."

Md Delowar Hossain of Rupdia village, Sataitor union, Boalmari upazila, said: "Production costs have risen because labour, fertiliser and irrigation have gone up. But if onion prices stay where they were this year, farmers will profit."

Kabir Sheikh, a farmer in Nagarkanda upazila, said onion production costs had risen many times over this year. Farmers would benefit if the government helped them with fertiliser and diesel as incentives, he said, adding that farmers in the district had suffered badly from incentive onion seed.

Sahida Begum of Ambikapur in Faridpur Sadar upazila, a large onion seed grower in the district, said she has produced onion seed for several years. Seed prices were good last year, so this year she has planted a larger area for seed.

Md Shahaduzzaman, deputy director of the Faridpur DAE, said: "This season onions of various kinds are being planted on a record area across the district's nine upazilas. If the weather is favourable, the target is to produce 5.5 lakh tonnes of onions this season."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.