Mirsarai couple succeed with their first commercial onion crop

A farming couple in Mirsarai upazila of Chattogram, Bimal Chandra Das and Sebika Rani Das, succeeded in growing onions commercially for the first time. Jagonews24 reported on 10 April 2025 that they were lifting the crop from their field at Char Chashrat in Ichhakhali union. They grew it with advice and support from the upazila agriculture office and planned to expand, and the report said their success had opened a new door for onion farming in the area.

Bimal once worked as a garden labourer in several countries. After coming home he took up farming in earnest on land left by his father and some sharecropped land, with his wife Sebika Rani Das as his main partner. Besides onions, the couple farm fish, raise poultry and grow garlic, rice, mustard, pulses, chillies, potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Bimal said that the year before he had grown onions on a small plot with only Tk 7,000 of capital and earned Tk 30,000. In the 2025 season he planted onions commercially for the first time, on 40 decimals of land. According to the report, each onion from their field weighed 100 to 120 grams.

Sebika Rani Das told Jagonews24: "Farming is everything to us. Husband and wife, we farm together. We don't need to buy anything from the market; everything is produced on our land. We sell various things we produce at the market. We have already started lifting onions from the field. The yield is quite good. If market prices hold, we hope to get a good price."

Mirsarai Upazila Agriculture Officer Pratap Chandra Roy said: "Onions usually do not do very well in the upazila. Last year we gave some onion seed under the improved spice varieties expansion project. They succeeded. This year Bimal Das grew Taherpuri onions on his own initiative. They are fairly successful onion farmers. Seeing them, many farmers will turn to onion farming."

Banglapedia describes the onion (Allium cepa) as a bulbous herb whose edible bulb is made of food-storing leaves. It grows on all types of soil, and in Bangladesh the best time to transplant seedlings is December or the first week of January. Taherpuri and Faridpuri are the two important local varieties. Onions are grown in every district, but Faridpur is the largest producer. They are eaten fresh, used as a spice and go into curries, sauces, soups and pickles.

Mirsarai is an upazila of Chattogram district covering 482.88 square kilometres. Banglapedia says it borders India's Tripura state and the Chhagalnaiya and Feni Sadar upazilas to the north, Sitakunda upazila and the Bay of Bengal to the south, and Sonagazi and Companiganj upazilas to the west. Its main river is the Feni, and the Sandwip Channel and the Ichhakhali, Mahamaya, Domkhali, Hinguli and Mayani canals are notable. Ichhakhali is one of the upazila's 16 unions.

Photo: RockyMasum / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Banglapedia (Onion), Banglapedia (Mirsharai Upazila)