Hali onions have started arriving in Pabna's markets, but with demand and prices below expectations, farmers fear losses on their crop. Although yields are good, they say current market prices are not covering production costs.

Farmers said rising production costs and the lack of a fair price meant local growers lost about Tk 50,000 a bigha on murikata onions. Newly arriving seedling onions are bringing similar losses.

Farmers say production costs, volatile market prices and the grip of middlemen are the main causes of the losses, and warn that growers may lose interest in onions as a result.

Md Ashikur Rahman, a sub-assistant agriculture officer at the Pabna Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said producing a kilogram of onions cost Tk 38 this year. According to DAE statistics, onion cultivation has risen by about 10 per cent from last year.

Farmers said onion production costs have been rising steadily for several years. Land preparation, seed, fertiliser, irrigation, pesticide and labour together cost so much that onions are not selling for even half of it.

Nasir Pramanik, a farmer from Pundaria in Santhia upazila who came to sell murikata onions at Karamja Chaturhat, said: "This time I planted six maunds of murikata onion seed on one bigha at Tk 8,500 a maund. The seed alone cost Tk 51,000. With fertiliser, pesticide, irrigation and labour, the cost came to Tk 90,000 to Tk 1 lakh a bigha. One bigha produced 43 maunds, and I have to sell murikata onions at only Tk 800 to Tk 1,000 a maund. By that reckoning I will lose Tk 50,000 a bigha."

Montu Khan, a farmer from Ulat village in Sujanagar upazila, said growing onions on about 10 bigha of his own land cost him about Tk 2.8 lakh, of which about Tk 1.5 lakh was borrowed. "I thought I would repay the loan by selling onions. Now the onions have become a thorn in my throat."

Momin Uddin, a farmer in the Kalibazar area, said his yield was 45 maunds a bigha. Onions are selling at Tk 700 or Tk 800 a maund, so he gets Tk 31,000 to Tk 36,000 for a bigha's crop. His average loss is Tk 50,000 to Tk 55,000 a bigha.

Shaon Mondal, a farmer from Durgapur in Sujanagar upazila, said: "As soon as we lift the onions we have to pay off our dues for fertiliser and pesticide. We also have no proper way to store a large quantity of onions at once. The government never thinks about us; it is busy with the interests of big traders. If there were enough government storage, we would not be in this plight."

Sujanagar upazila agriculture officer Rafiul Islam said the onion yield is very good this year, so increased supply has brought prices down. If the government halts imports for the next three months during the onion season, farmers will get a fair price. Higher authorities have been informed, he said.

Onions are usually grown in Pabna in two ways: murikata and hali, or seedling. Murikata onions are sown in October–November and harvested in January–February, while hali onions are sown in December–January and harvested in March–April.

According to the agriculture department, Bera, Santhia and Sujanagar upazilas of Pabna are among the country's leading onion areas, producing about one-third of national demand. This year the district's target for seedling or hali onions was 44,221 hectares, against which 44,189 hectares were planted: 4,631 hectares in Sadar, 17,710 in Sujanagar, 15,040 in Santhia and 2,860 in Bera. This year growers of early murikata onions could not even recover their production costs, let alone make a profit, and hali onion growers are heading for the same fate.

Md Rokonuzzaman, additional deputy director (crops) of the Pabna DAE, said there is no reason for farmers to despair even though prices have fallen. Supply has risen because onions are being harvested in full swing, and prices will rise at the end of the season. He advised farmers to store their onions rather than sell in a hurry.

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