Farmers of Jhenaidah have been producing 36 tonnes of onion seeds a year, which is meeting one-third of the demand in the district. They will have to produce another 75 mounds in near future to meet the demand in the district.
Currently, they are dependent on imported seeds, which have been affecting the farmers as the cost of production rises if imported seeds are used instead of locally produced seeds.
They said that the seeds expected to be produced this season, would meet at least 50 per cent of the total demand. The farmers in the district have harvested about 75 percent of the seeds in the season, they said.
The farmers in six upazila of Jhenaidah have brought 10,472 hectares of land under onion production in the season against the government target of 9,050 hectares.
They said the seed production might be doubled as most of the farmers had produced onion seeds themselves to get relief from the clutch of the private companies. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in the district has been motivating the farmers to produce more seeds on their lands to reduce the use of costly imported seeds to save production cost, said the DAE sources in Jhenaidah.
Local onion farmer Nuruzzaman Mia Pappu of Manaharpur village in Shailkupa upazila when contacted said the farmers in the area have produced 250 to 300 decimal of land under the onion seed production in the season when they had purchased the local seeds at Tk 7,000 to 8,000 per kg.
The price was around Tk 2,000 in the previous season. The farmers were compelled to purchase seeds imported by a private company at double prices due to severe crisis of the seeds in the last season, Pappu added.
Farmer Amal Kumar Biswas of Mahishadanga village in Shailkua upazila said they can only meet one-third of their demands. As they are not in a position to produce more seeds, due to three cereal crops a year like paddy, they depend on foreign seeds imported by some of the seeds selling companies. Here they have to spend double or more for the seed.
Further, the renowned seed companies re-fixed their onion seed prices without prior notice that threw the farmers in trouble. To get relief from the grill of the seed selling companies, the farmers have to produce the seeds themselves for a greater interest, Amal Kumar Biswas said.
DAE sources said that farmers in Jhenaidah Sadar, Kaliganj, Kotchandpur, Moheshpur, Shailkupa and Harinakundu had produced onion seeds on 40 hectares of land in the last season, while they have been producing the same on 72 hectares this season. They are going to harvest 36 to 38 tonnes of the seeds in the current season. It could cover one third of the total onion farming area in the district. To meet the demand with local seeds, the farmers should produce another 75 to 99 tones of seeds themselves.
Deputy Director of DAE in Jhenaidah, Asgar Ali when contacted said farmers of the district, especially, Shailkupa farmers have been showing more interests when they have been reaping better from the onion all along.
Although they do not have any target to produce onion seeds, the DAE officials have been motivating the farmers so that they can strengthen their socio-economic base and save foreign currency to save the nation as well. It will help reduce the import and save a lot of foreign currency. To make the onion farmers self-dependent, they have been giving emphasis on summer variety of onion, Deputy Director said.
