With the rabi season under way, farmers in the upazilas of Manikganj are busy planting onion seedlings. The work goes on in field after field from dawn to dusk, and the green seedlings and the farmers' tireless labour have brought the district's farmland to life.

The deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) says that because the weather is favourable and farming is following the agriculture office's advice, onion production this season will reach 70,575 tonnes.

According to the district DAE, in the last fiscal year seedling onions were grown on 4,149 hectares in the district's seven upazilas, producing 65,740 tonnes. This season the target for seedling onions has been set at 4,452 hectares, with a production target of 70,575 tonnes. So far seedlings have been planted on 430 hectares. Harirampur and Shibalaya upazilas grow the most onions.

In the fields, farmers were seen preparing land in groups and planting seedlings in rows. Some were irrigating, others applying fertiliser. With favourable weather and enough water, they are hoping for a good harvest.

Local farmers said Manikganj's soil suits onions, making them an important cash crop in the district. Demand in the market is good, but this season the fertiliser shortage and higher labour wages have put them under some pressure. They believe a good yield would make up for that.

Jinnat Ali Mollah of Kotkandi village in Kanchanpur union told Jago News: "Last year I grew hali onions on three bighas. It cost a lot and I made a loss. This year I will grow onions on the same three bighas again. You can't give up farming. It will cost at least Tk 50,000 a bigha."

Hazrat Fakir of Kutirhatkhola village told Jago News: "Onions from our area meet demand in Dhaka, Sylhet, Chattogram and other districts. But there is hardly any profit in growing onions. The cost is very high."

Zakir Hossain of Harirampur upazila, who grows onions on about 15 bighas every year, told Jago News: "If onion prices stay where they are now, farmers can make up last year's losses. If onions are imported from abroad in the middle of the season, farmers will face losses. We call the current season the hali onion season, and there is a severe fertiliser shortage at this time. As a farmer, my appeal to the government is that farm inputs such as fertiliser and seed be made easily available."

Shahjahan Siraj, deputy director of the Manikganj DAE, told Jago News: "This season the district has a target of growing onions on a total of 7,867 hectares. Of this, hali or seedling onions will be grown on 4,452 hectares, murikata onions on 3,386 hectares and seed onions on 29 hectares. Hali onions have already been planted on 430 hectares, and the rest will be done in the next 15 to 20 days. Because the weather is favourable and farming is following the agriculture office's advice, we hope onion production will rise this year."

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