Many farmers in Jhikargachha, Jashore, have profited from growing onions at no cost and with little effort. They grew onions as a companion crop in pointed gourd (potol) fields and got good yields. With onion prices high in the market, they are smiling, and the number of growers is expected to rise.

One of them is Osman Gani of Belemathpara in Bodhkhana village of the upazila. He grew onions as a companion crop in a pointed gourd field on 24 decimals of land and hopes to make a profit of at least Tk 40,000.

Osman Gani said: "In early November I sowed the onion seed given by the agriculture office in a seedbed. I transplanted the seedlings when they were 25-26 days old. Pointed gourd was already planted in the field. I used the fertiliser the government gave. It cost nothing, so all the money from selling the onions is profit. The pointed gourd plants have grown well too. The onions have grown very large: 8-9 onions make a kilogram. I got 20 maunds of onions, and wholesalers have offered Tk 2,000 a maund."

According to the upazila office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), under the agricultural incentive programme for 2023-24, seed and chemical fertiliser were given to 600 small and marginal farmers in the upazila to increase summer onion cultivation in the Kharif-2 season. In October-November, each received 1 kg of summer onion seed, 20 kg each of DAP and MOP fertiliser, and a total of Tk 2,800 for land preparation, irrigation, labour and buying bamboo.

Sub-assistant agriculture officer Ayub Hossain said: "Although these incentive onions are a summer variety, they also yielded well in the winter season. Like Osman Gani, Rubia Begum of Barbakpur village in this block and Mikail Hossain of Bodhkhana have also sold onions worth Tk 40,000-45,000. With no costs and higher profits, farmers' interest is growing."

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