By Dr Aynal Haque
RAJSHAHI, Dec 27, 2020 (BSS)- Grassroots farmers are being delighted
because they are getting good yield and lucrative market price of the newly
harvested onion everywhere in the region including its vast Barind tract and
riverbed areas at present.
Many of the farmers are now passing busy time with harvesting and many
other post-harvest works like transportation and marketing of the early
variety of the cash crop.
Golam Mostofa, 54, a farmer of Chalk Rajapur village under Bagha Upazila,
said last year he had cultivated onion on five bigha of land and sold the
crop at Taka 35 to 40 per kilogram. But this year, he’s selling at Taka 42
from his field. He along with many of his co-villagers is dreaming of profit
from the crop.
Abdul Maleque of Baosha village and Muktar Ali of Arani village under the
same upazila said they are happy with the present market price. If the
present market price remains in the months to come acreage of the crop will
increase in the coming years, they opined.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Shafiullah Sultan said there was a target of
bringing around 3,000 hectares of land in the upazila but the farmers
cultivated on around 3,500 hectares.
Meanwhile, over 9.32 lakh tonnes of onion is expected to be produced from
around 88,800 hectares of land in all eight districts of the division during
the current Rabi and subsequent Kharif-1 seasons.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has set a target of producing
around 3.14 lakh tonnes of the spicy cash crop from 29,920 hectares of land
in four districts in Rajshahi Agricultural Zone, while 6.18 lakh tonnes from
58,880 hectares in four other districts of Bogura Zone.
Already, farmers have cultivated advanced variety onions on around 20,800
hectares of land and newly harvested cash crop has appeared in both wholesale
and retail markets abundantly downsizing its retail market price for the last
couple of days.
The DAE has already intensified steps for enhancing onion production
through encouraging the farmers in general to mitigate the crisis of the
spicy item.
Sirajul Islam, Additional Director of DAE, said the grassroots farmers are
being given ideas and modern knowledge to get good yield through the best
management of fertilizer, irrigation and pesticides.
Simultaneously, the farmers are also seen showing their interests towards
onion farming side by side with paddy, wheat, maize and winter vegetables
amid massive demand and exorbitant price of the spice crop in the present
market.
Agriculturist Islam said around 14,000 farmers were given seeds and
fertilizers as incentives for onion farming on 4,250 bighas of land in the
division under the current rabi season’s agricultural incentive programme.
Each of the farmers got the support for onion farming on ten decimal of land.
Meanwhile, the farmers are seen bursting with seedling transplantation of
onion at present.
Muhammad Rokanuzzaman, 30, a farmer of Deegram village under Godagari
Upazila, said he has taken preparation for farming onion on one bigha of land
after harvesting the advanced variety this season.
He said there is a bright prospect of bringing more acreage under onion
farming in the Barind region as the farmers are very much interested to
cultivate the crop for its feature to consume less water.
Rokanuzzaman said he is very happy cultivating various less-water consuming
crops like onions. “I had to face many troubles to manage irrigation water
for boro cultivation,” he said. But, the cultivation of water-saving crops is
suitable for the farmers of the area, he added.