Onion seed production has begun in Kurigram for the first time, opening new possibilities for local farming. In a district that has long depended on rice and potatoes, farmers see onion seed production as a hopeful alternative source of income.

The venture was started by Rasel Ahmed, a farmer in Chhatmadhai village of Sadar union in the district's Rajarhat upazila. Having failed to make the profit he wanted from conventional crops for a long time, he began looking for another source of income. That led him to start producing seed of the polycross variety of onion for the first time this season.

Rasel Ahmed planted polycross onions on about 60 decimals of land last December. The plants in his field are now healthy and strong, and he hopes to collect the seed this month if the weather stays favourable.

The onion seed plot has created local jobs. Local men and women work there every day and earn daily wages of Tk 300 to Tk 500.

Rasel Ahmed said: "I started onion seed production from a different way of thinking. If the yield is good, I plan to do it on a larger scale in future. Looking at the plants now, I am hopeful. Unless there is a major natural disaster, I expect a good profit."

According to the agriculture department, this is the first initiative to produce onion seed in Kurigram. Until now the district's farmers had to get seed from outside, especially from the Faridpur region. If seed is produced locally, production costs will fall and farmers' profits will rise.

Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Kurigram, said: "Onion is an important cash crop in the country. The soil and weather of Kurigram are suitable for this crop. The agriculture department is giving interested farmers the technical support and advice they need."

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