Summer onion cultivation has begun in Faridpur. Sales of muri-kata (bulb) onions finished recently, and planting of hali onions is now in full swing. Seedlings raised from seed are being planted across the fields, and farmers are busy from dawn to dusk despite the bitter cold and thick fog.

Farmers made eight to ten times their costs from muri-kata onions this time, so they are planting hali onions straight after lifting and selling that crop. Onions are being grown on more than 41,000 hectares in Faridpur district this year, and planting is already complete on more than half of that land.

Across the fields of the district's nine upazilas, only onion planting can be seen now. According to the DAE in Saltha upazila, known as Faridpur's onion capital, onions were grown on 11,948 hectares there last year and are being grown on 12,240 hectares this season.

Again this year, onions will be grown on more land than targeted. Varieties such as Lal Teer King, Taherpuri, Faridpuri and BARI-1 are being planted. At the peak of the planting season there is a shortage of labour, and farmers are busy hiring workers at extra cost to finish planting quickly.

Onion farmers Md Hafez Molla of Gatti union in Saltha upazila, Nurul Islam of Ramkantupur and Md Shahjahan Molla of Sonapur told Jago News that farmers have turned to onions after getting good prices for several years. Onion planting is in full swing in the fields of every village in the upazila.

Every day from dawn, seedlings are lifted and planted in the fields. Workers are paid Tk 500 to 600 each, and because everyone started at once, demand for labour is high and wages are a little higher. Planting will be finished within the next 10-12 days, they said.

Saltha upazila agriculture officer, agriculturist Jibangshu Das, told Jago News that to make sure the onion production target is met, 2,900 farmers in the upazila have been given free seed and fertiliser under the government's agricultural incentive programme. DAE field officers are constantly with farmers giving advice to raise onion production, he said.

To meet the country's onion demand through summer onion cultivation, Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol, additional secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, recently inaugurated the cultivation of summer onion seed on the land of model woman farmer Sahida Begum in the Ambikapur field in the district town.

DAE additional director Monojit Kumar Mallik, deputy director Dr Md Hazrat Ali, district marketing officer Md Shahadat Hossain and other DAE officials were present.

Alongside local onions, more of the hybrid Lal Teer King variety is being planted; farmers say it gives a good yield at low cost. This season, two spells of rain damaged onion seedbeds, but farmers said that despite a slight shortage of seedlings there would be no deficit.

Farmers got good prices for onions towards the end of last season, and although onion seed costs a little more than last season, they have still turned to onions.

Onion farmers Md Nannu Khan and Md Alam Sekh of Korakdi in Madhukhali upazila told Jago News that onion seedlings from one kg of seed are selling for Tk 16,000-18,000. Despite the high price, farmers are trying to plant rather than leave land empty, and planting in the area will be finished by next month.

Several farmers, including big onion growers Kalikumar Bala, Sunil Biswas, Joydev Biswas and Swapan Biswas of Tongrail village in Boalmari upazila, Robin Biswas of Sutalia village, Kader Molla and Selim Sekh of Nagarkanda upazila, Sohag Matubbar, Rustam Ali and Nader Sekh of Bhanga upazila, and Gautam Roy of Madhukhali, told Jago News that it is now the peak of the onion planting season.

Men and women farmers are all busy planting. Some are lifting seedlings, some planting, and some selling seedlings in the markets, which are full of them. Demand for onion-planting workers has risen, and farming families are now fully occupied with planting.

Dr Hazrat Ali, deputy director of the DAE in Faridpur, told Jago News that the target for onion cultivation in the district this season is 41,810 hectares.

Of this, planting has been completed on 68 per cent of the land, and it is expected that all the land will be planted by the end of the month. Water was slow to recede from some land, so that may take a little longer. "We are giving farmers every kind of help. If the weather stays favourable, Faridpur can achieve the expected success in onion cultivation again this year," he said.

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