Onion set prices have doubled in Bangladesh, dashing the hopes of the inflation-hit people for an immediate reduction in the prices of the key cooking vegetable through the cultivation of early winter varieties.

Onion sets are small bulbs that are planted instead of seeds to yield a mature crop.

The production cost for each bigha of Kondo onion, an early winter variety cultivated from mid-October and harvested in early January, has risen to about Tk 60,000 from Tk 30,000 previously.

The variety is mainly cultivated to cater to the demand before new onions hit the market in summer.

Md Idris Ali, a development officer at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Pabna, said they expect Kondo onion will be cultivated on 8,610 hectares of land in the district this year.

"We aim to get about 1.18 lakh tonnes of the crop early next year before new onions arrive."

But during a visit to Sujanagar upazila, the country's biggest onion producing hub, local farmers were found cultivating the Kondo variety on a smaller scale than usual due to the higher production cost.

Md Kamruzzaman, an onion farmer in Durgapur village, said each maund [37 kilogrammes] of onion sets is selling for as much as Tk 3,500 while it was Tk 1,500 previously.

He initially planned to cultivate 40 bighas of Kondo onion but ultimately revised the target down to 32 bighas in the face of excessive production costs.

As the onion set price has doubled, so too has the production cost. At least 10 maunds of onion sets are needed to cultivate each bigha, he said.

Kamruzzaman also informed that marginal farmers who do not own land are bearing the brunt of the increased production cost as they have to spend extra on leasing plots.

Md Momin Khan, a marginal onion farmer of Ulat village, said he leased four bighas of land for Tk 60,000 to cultivate the Kondo variety.

"But I am worried about getting the expected profit due to the excessive production cost."

Echoing the same, Md Montu Miah, an onion farmer in the same village, said higher fertiliser and labour costs are making it difficult to continue cultivation as before.

Fertiliser prices have increased by Tk 10 per kg while labour costs have risen by Tk 100. So, the production cost has reached more than Tk 50,000 per bigha, he added.

Montu also said he does not dare cultivate more than one bigha of the early winter variety this year considering the excessive production cost.

He thinks onion prices will be higher even after the early winter variety is harvested.

He sold each maund of Kondo onion for about Tk 600 last season but this year, the price will be Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 due to the high production cost, he said.

Onion is currently selling for Tk 120 to Tk 140 per kg at retail, the highest in the past one year.

However, Md Jamal Uddin, deputy director of the Pabna DAE, said there is nothing to worry about as onion prices will come under control when there is sufficient supply in the market.

"The onion market is running with imports at the moment but after harvesting the Kondo variety, supply will be available and then the price will come under control."

The government official said that onion seeds will be available within two months of harvesting the early variety. "So, there will be no crisis for the crop next year."

According to the Pabna DAE, 44,665 hectares in the district are to be brought under onion cultivation to produce 6.45 lakh tonnes of the crop this year.

The onion seed cultivation will likely begin from the last week of December or early January with a harvesting target by March, DAE sources said.