Onions have been widely grown in Shariatpur this year. But having bought seed at high prices, farmers cannot sell their onions at prices that match. The gap between production costs and sale prices has left growers facing heavy losses. People involved in agriculture say farmers could recover some of the loss if onion imports were stopped during the peak season.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), onions are grown to some extent in all six upazilas of the district, but proportionally more in Zajira and Naria. This season the district's target was 4,120 hectares, and 4,280 hectares were planted: 3,860 hectares of murikata (bulb-planted) onion and 420 hectares of hali (seedling) onion.

Local farmers say the fields are busy with the murikata harvest. Because of rain at the start of the season, growers had to buy and plant onion seed several times at considerable cost, which pushed up production costs. They had hoped a good yield would still bring some profit, but prices in the market have disappointed them. They are losing at least Tk 40,000 a bigha. With prices down, many are not lifting onions even though they are ready for sale, and many farmers are now turning away from the crop.

Mojibor Sheikh, a farmer from Mirbahar Kandi in Naria's Nashason union, grew murikata onions on one bigha this season. Seed, fertiliser, pesticide, irrigation and labour cost him at least Tk 80,000. The yield was good, but at market prices the onions from that land will fetch only Tk 45,000. He has sold part of the crop and is leaving the rest in the ground, although mature, because of the price fall.

"At these onion prices we are making a loss. That's why I've stopped lifting them. If the market recovers, I'll lift them again. If the farmer doesn't make a profit, how can he keep paying for hired labour to grow onions?" he said.

Razzak Paik, a farmer from the T&T area of Zajira, said: "I never thought I'd be caught out like this with onions this year. I bought seed for a lot of money. At the price onions are fetching now, I won't even recover the planting costs. If it goes on like this, how will we farmers and our families survive?"

An onion grower named Bachchu Sikder said: "I lost money on murikata onions, so I've planted hali onions on some land. If onion prices are good before the coming Eid, I can recover some of the loss. But we have one demand of the government: that it does not import onions from other countries in the coming days."

Mostafa Kamal Hossain, deputy director of the DAE in the district, said higher production costs this year meant farmers could not make a profit on murikata onions. "But if onion imports are stopped in the peak season, farmers could gain something. We always advise farmers that if they plant onions at the start of the season, they can make a profit," he said.

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