Despite lower yields, onion farmers happy as prices rise

Onion prices have been rising following the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation, bringing hope to farmers across Bangladesh who registered lower yields of the crop due to poor weather during winter this year.

Besides, local traders claim that reduced production will result in increased imports to meet demand.

Onion yields typically exceed 14.17 tonnes per hectare but production fell to about 13.60 tonnes this year due to bad weather during the cultivating period, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Some 2.57 lakh hectares of land were brought under onion cultivation to produce 36.40 lakh tonnes of the crop in winter last year, said Md Robiul Haque Mojumder, an additional director of the DAE.

Around 2.47 lakh hectares were brought under onion cultivation at the same time this fiscal year (2022-23) with 2.20 lakh hectares having been harvested to get 30 lakh tonnes of the crop as of last week.

"Onion production has been badly affected by bad weather as the winter was short while not much water was available in the fields when needed," he added.

Mojumder went on to say that despite the lower production of onions during the cold season, cultivation of the crop in summer has expanded.

Summer onions were cultivated on 4,009 hectares of land to produce 73,600 tonnes of the bulb last year while the acreage has risen to 5,100 hectares to produce 75,000 tonnes this year.

Md Montu Khan, an onion farmer of Ulat village in Sujanagar upazila of Pabna, the biggest producing region, said he cultivated eight bighas of the crop this year with four bighas having been sown during winter.

The onion that was cultivated early yielded 45 maunds (roughly 37 kilogrammes) per bigha while that was cultivated late yielded just 20 maunds per bigha.

Khan then said he produced over 400 maunds of onion last year while he was unable to get more than 250 maunds of the crop this year due to bad weather.

He completed harvesting the bulbs in mid-April but was left worried by the poor prices on offer at the time.

"Each maund of onion was sold for Tk 1,200 at wholesale during the harvesting period last month, which was too low to even cover production costs," Khan said.

"But after Eid vacation, the onion price has been increasing with each maund currently selling at Tk 1,450 to Tk 1,650," he added.

Md Kamruzzaman, a leading onion producer of Durgapur village in Sujanagar upazila, said he cultivated 80 bighas of onion this year but production has been poor compared to last year.

"I got up to 4,500 maunds of onion from the same amount of land last year while it was just 2,500 maunds this year," he added.

Kamruzzaman went on to say that it costs about Tk 40,000 to cultivate each bigha of onion and so, they are happy about the rising prices considering the massive fall in production.

With this backdrop, he urged those concerned to not import onion at the moment.

Md Idris Ali, a development officer of the Pabna DAE, said a total of 7.37 lakh tonnes of onion were produced from 52,470 hectares of land in Pabna this year, indicating an average yield of 14.05 tonnes per hectare.

Last year, 7.97 lakh tonnes of onion were produced from 53,315 hectares of land in the district at an average of 14.95 tonnes per hectare.

At least 25 per cent of the onion production in Bangladesh comes from Pabna so any fall in production in the district badly affects supply across the country, he added.

Md Robiul Islam, an onion wholesaler, said local production does not meet the country's annual demand and so, imports are necessary for controlling the market.

"The demand for onion has been increasing since Eid-ul_Fitr and so too have the prices. The trend will likely continue until imports reach local wholesale markets," he added.

Data of the commerce ministry shows that the annual demand for onion in Bangladesh is above 25 lakh tonnes at present.

A ministry official, seeking anonymity, said there is sufficient local production but almost 25 per cent of the total yield is wasted each year due to the lack of storage facilities, leading to imports.

Md Robiul Haque, additional director of the Pabna, said the government would take a decision regarding onion imports in due time in order to meet domestic demand and keep prices under control.