Bumper onion yield expected in Rangpur region

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Officials and farmers are expecting a bumper onion output in Rangpur agriculture region as the farming of the essential spicy crop continues this season.

The DAE sources said farmers are now harvesting the tuber variety of onion with excellent yield rates and getting rewarding prices as transplantation of onion seedlings will continue till next month.

Taking into consideration the growing demand for onion and its frequent scarcity, the DAE has fixed a record target of producing 1,13,976 tonnes of onion from 9,755 hectares of land in Rangpur agriculture region this season.

“The record onion production target has been fixed to meet gradually increasing local demand,” said Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Mohammad Shah Alam.

Following various pragmatic steps taken by the government, onion production is continuously increasing every year in the region.

During the last (2021-2022) Rabi season, farmers produced 1,03,809 tonnes of onion in all five districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari districts.

“Earlier, farmers produced 1,06,205 tonnes of onion during the 2020-2021 Rabi season, 89,970 tonnes during 2019-2020, 66,886 tonnes during the 2018-2019 and 62,673 tonnes during the 2017-2018 seasons in the region,” he said.

Farmers have so far cultivated onion on 7,431 hectares of land, 76.18 per cent against the fixed farming target for the region till Wednesday.

Meanwhile, farmers have already harvested the tuber variety of onion on 873 hectares of land producing 10,083 tonnes of onion with an excellent yield rate of 11.55 tonnes per hectare on average.

The DAE, Spices Research Institutes, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture are extending assistance to farmers to make the onion farming program a success.

“Getting rewarding prices of onion in recent years and government incentives in terms of seeds and fertilisers, farmers are cultivating onion on more land this time to further increase production,” Alam said.

Deputy Director (Leave Reserved) of the DAE at Khamarbari in Dhaka Abu Sayem said onion production could be enhanced further by ensuring appropriate crop diversification and reaching the latest technologies to farmers in Rangpur region.

“After getting assistance and the latest technologies, char people and small and marginal farmers are expanding onion cultivation with huge enthusiasm on both mainland and char areas this season,” Sayem said.

Farmers Abu Bakar, Anwar Hossain and Shahidur Rahman of different villages in Rangpur said they are now harvesting the tuber variety of onion and preparing the same lands for the transplantation of onion seedlings.

Vegetable trader Hafizur Rahman at Rangpur City Bazar on Thursday said the newly harvested tuber variety of onion is being sold at rates between Tk 35 and Tk 40 per kg.