Murikata onion, grown in the Faridpur and Pabna region, does much to keep the country's onion supply steady through winter. With the monsoon water gone, Faridpur's farmers have started the new season's planting, but a fertiliser shortage and higher fuel prices and wages are pushing up costs, Samakal reports. DAP fertiliser is the biggest worry.
Farmers say that although the government price of DAP is Tk 1,050 a sack, in some places they cannot get enough even at Tk 1,800. Murikata onion sets cost Tk 2,800 to 3,000 a maund, on top of the cost of preparing the land, irrigating, planting and tending the crop.
Rahim Molla, Abul Kalam and Zakir Sheikh, who farm the Ambikapur fields in Faridpur Sadar upazila, say input prices have risen but onion prices have not kept pace, so they fear for their returns despite spending more. Tuhin Mondal, Azmal Bepari and Hossain Sheikh of Char Madhabdia say that unless farmers get a fair price that reflects costs, it will be hard to keep growing the crop. They want fertiliser supplied at the fair price at the start of the season and closer monitoring of the input market.
Anwar Hossain, the Faridpur Sadar upazila agriculture officer, said Faridpur's early onions help meet winter demand, and any setback to the crop could affect market supply and prices.
Advocate Manik Majumder, president of the Faridpur Krishak Samity, said onion output could suffer if farmers do not get fertiliser, pesticide and other inputs on time.
Shahaduzzaman, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Faridpur, said the district's target for murikata onion this season is 5,885 hectares. Where onion prices head in early winter will depend in good part on how this crop fares.
Photo: An onion field in Bangladesh, RockyMasum / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: samakal
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