Recent Onion Crisis in Bangladesh: Planning and Management Scopes
Author: Prof. Dr. Md. Jafar Ullah (jafarullahsau@gmail.com)
This article is posted on March 06, 2020 and subject to corrections, modifications, editing and updating
Bangladesh at a glance:
Sections of this article
Summary
In Bangladesh, onion is widely used as a spice mainly for preparing curries. The country has been experiencing a huge shortage of onion in its markets due to its less inland-production coupled with the export-ban by India. Bangladesh has favorable climates for the onion production. It can be grown both in winter and summer although the summer output is almost negligible. Currently Bangladesh produces 1867 thousand tons of onion from 186 thousand hectare of land showing the productivity of 10.038 t/ha. Rajshahi and Dhaka division has greater productivities. The suggested strategies to increase the production are selecting lands on the most suitable lands, using the most productive and adaptive varieties, finding more lands in the existing cropping patterns without disturbing the principle crops growing onion in intercropped or relay system, increasing its acreage in summer season, improving field and post-harvest operations to avoid in field or at harvest or post-harvest loss, improving the modern storage facilities, giving more incentives to farmers, finding more productive, longer shelf life and disease or insect tolerant varieties by research, alternative crops/ways and changing food preparation habits, importing quality bulbs and seeds, market monitoring in terms of supply and illegal storage and control along with strategic tax fixation for the importers, easy credit supply to the farmers during harvest period, finding alternative onion-exporting countries, enforcing farmers cooperatives or societies for protecting their interest themselves.
Onion Crisis in Bangladesh: Introduction
In Bangladesh, onion is widely used as a spice mainly for preparing curries. The country has been experiencing a huge shortage of onion in markets since November of the last year (1999). It happened mainly due to the export-ban by India on which Bangladesh relied most for onion import. Such refusal by India was also observed in 2008.
Upon the circumstance, Bangladesh government imported onion to sell in its open market on subsidized price from some other countries although those were not enough as per the market demands. The onion-crisis is still continuing even its inland production is in full swing. During the crisis the price of the onion in the local markets rised from 30 to 260 taka per kilo and even at present it is being sold Taka 100-150 a kilo despite the early variety of onion has already been harvested by the farmers and are being sold in the market simultaneously along with the imported ones. So, it would be a good approach to find ways to face such crisis in future.
It was really a crisis
Increasing commodity price at the pick affects consumers interest which the government gives most emphasis on to avoid political turmoil. Such happens not only in Bangladesh, but also there are evidences of having the country on unrest by the opposition who takes the advantage of sudden price hikes of the agricultural commodity-market. Because, spices are among the top food types which are expensive almost in all the countries of the world.
India imposed ban on onion export after having been badly affected last year by drought in the spring crop, while severe rainfall in winter season in the late September caused a devastating yield reductions. Onion was a source of political issue in the past for several times in India. Indira Gandhi came to power in 1980 mainly making the issue of ‘soaring onion prices’ which again became an issue in 1998 election and again in 2010.
Bangladesh was not an exception of having a peaceful situation when onion price jumped to sky top. Even in the Parliament in a debate, the government parliamentarians had a hot talk upon the discontents of the onion consumers blaming to the businessmen for the devastating situation. Some parliamentarians also opined not to raise hue and cry over a rise of agricultural commodity as it is encouraging to the farmers to grow more.
Environment and soil needs for onion
Onion likes sandy loam to clay loam soil rich in humus and fairly good content of potash. As it has a shallow root system, it needs friable soil enriched with enough plant nutrients and moisture in the upper 10 cm layer. It likes soil pH optimum between 5.8 and 6.5 but can be grown at pH up 8. At pH below 5.5, magnesium and molybdenum availability may drop and above 6.5, zinc, manganese and iron may become deficient (https://www.indiaagronet.com). In organic soils, it can be grown at pH of 4. It prefers moderate temperature and short days for the formation of bulbs.
As it has a shallow root system, it needs continuous moisture supply as the upper surface of the soil gets dry rapidly being exposed to direct sunlight. For this reason, it needs frequent irrigations. In contrast, the onion can not withstand water logging condition. When grown in sandy soil the maturity becomes earlier. The heavy soil gives rise to misshapen bulbs (Chowdhury and Hassan, 2013; indiaagronet.com).
Onion contains substantial amount of constituents in its body needing a heavy dose of fertilizer for its cultivation (McGillivray, 1961). Like tuber and root crops, onion consumes a large amount of potash which is needed to use in the transportation of photosynthates and increasing the bulb size. The potash rich bulb has also longer storage life (Sangakkara and Piyadasa, 1993). Like in other crops potassium is helpful for increasing the resistance to pest and disease; and also reducing stem breakage due to strong wind (Islam et al., 2008). Even the source of potassium also affect both onion yield and quality. Chloride of KCl (muriate of potash) may cause burning of leaves and deteriorate the onion bulbs. So, using K2SO4 is more useful along with supplying sulphur in addition which improves the quality of the onion bulbs. Other sources of potash such as Sulphate of potash (SOP) also contains sulfur and has been found to perform better than the muriate of potash (Nabi et al, 2010; Naher et al., 2017). Onion responds to N and S positively in terms of yield and quality of bulbs [Patel and Patel, 1990; Vachhani and Patel,1993]. Onion cultivation also needs much amount of P application as it contains a big mass of this content in its body.
Sowing time is very important for onion cultivation as it affects bulb yield, quality and shelf life. Sowing onion seeds in seed beds for seedling production generally starts in November when water recedes from the high lands. The 30-45 days old seedlings are transplanted in the main lands when those become dry mostly in the month of December. In case constrained by the over soil-moisture due to the delay of water depletion of the standing water or sudden or abnormal heavy rain, both the seed production as well as the seedling transplantation may be delayed extending to even up to the month of January last causing the crop to lose bulb yields. The delay planting of onion are also practiced in lands which become inundated by the flush floods and are mostly saucer type having raised lands at the periphery and ditches at the center. Onions along with other winter crops are planted in the periphery of this saucer type of land and such lands predominates in the south coastal regions of Bangladesh. The delayed seedling transplantation may also happen due to the abnormal rain in the months of October to December which not only make delays in onion planting, may cause damage of the onion seedling in the early planted crops necessitating resowing/retransplanting in the seed bed or in the main lands. Due to occurrence of heavy rain in November at Pabna, farmers had to transplant onion seedlings late in the month of December of 2019 (Daily Star, Nov 25, 2019).
Late planting also makes delay in harvesting which may extend even up to April-May when monsoon rain is already on set. This makes disadvantageous in both harvesting and drying of the bulbs that may enhance the infestation of the storage diseases. Even after harvest the much humid and rainy weather may cause onion bulb to suffer from rot disease. For these reasons the February harvest of onion has the best keeping quality as at this time there is a plenty of sunshine for easy harvest and dry them up. In the rainy day the root system cling to the sticky mud deteriorating the bulb’s quality.
In some of the onion growing areas, onion is also grown sowing in the month of September – October and harvesting them early from the month of December, in most of the cases, in immature stages, so as to catch ‘hiked price’ of the market. Both the leaves and bulbs of the half-matured onion can be used in the kitchen which eventually helps to meet up the demands of onion in the deficit onion market to some extent.
Current production status
Onion ranks second among the fifteen vegetables as specified by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). About 3.72 million hectares of lands are covered under its cultivation each year on a global scale producing over 74 million metric tons of which 8% is internationally traded. China, India, and the US are the world's leading onion producing countries. It is usually used as an ingredient of a savory dish, chutneys, and or eaten raw. Bangladesh, although is not listed within 10th top onion producing countries, its production has trended in the past several years.
In Bangladesh, besides to add taste to the curries, onion is used in preparing pickling, chutney, sauces (Sobhan, 2019). The main edible portion of onion is the bulb which is constituted by the fleshy sheath and stem plate. Onion bulb is rich with phosphorus, calcium, carbohydrates, etc. It also contains protein and vitamin C. The most important character of onion is its flavor which increases the taste of food. Onion is also widely used to some other food items, such as gravies, soups, stew stuffing, fried fish, and meat [Ali et al. 2007; Hossain et al. 2017].
According to BBS (2017) In the production of onion in Bangladesh was respectively 134, 769, 1159, 1704 and 1866 thousands tons respectively in 1999, 2006, 2012, 2015, 2017 from 34, 116, 170 and 186 thousand hectares of land (BBS 2017). Compared to 2012-13, onion production in the country increased by 59 per cent and (Ahmed and Hoque, 2019) .
As per the latest report onion productions during 2018-2019 were 2330 thousand metric tons with a demand of 3600 thousand metric tons. As such the annual production deficit in Bangladesh is 1270 thousand metric tons (Sobhan, 2019). Bangladesh imported about 0.27 million (270 thousand) metric tons of onion and so the market deficit amounts to be one million metric tons. But there are different other opinions regarding the annual deficit of onion in Bangladesh saying that the deficit lied between 0.3 to 0.5 million metric tons (Minto, 2019). Bangladesh imported 100 to 110 thousand metric tons onion during 2013-14 fiscal year (BBS, 2015). Despite controversy in the amount of both annual production or deficit, there is no doubt that we have deficit and we have to increase our production ourselves to avoid such crises in future.
According the available information, Bangladesh produces two third of its needs and so attempts to be adopted to increase its inland production by 33%. This could be done either bringing more lands under onion’s cultivation or increasing per hectare productivity. The former would be very difficult as we can not stop cultivating the staple crop rice like boro rice and some other main winter crops in the onion growing season. Bangladesh also imports a number of winter food crops like oilseeds and pulses which are also in the deficit lists. So, the best way is left to increasing the per unit land productivity of onion.
Acreage of onion by divisions
Major administrative unit of Bangladesh is division. It has seven divisions and these are Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rangpur and Sylhet. The greatest onion producing division is Dhaka (77629 ha) and then in sequence of downward hierarchy are Khulna (28828 ha), Rangpur (8700 ha), Mymenshigh (2989 ha), Chittagong (2108 ha), Barisal (881 ha) and Sylhet (304 ha) (figure below)
Production of onion by divisions
Like having the acreage, the most onion producing division is Dhaka (711822 tons) and then in sequence of downward hierarchy are Khulna (372316 tons), Rangpur (76094 tons), Mymenshigh (20130 tons), Chittagong (9977 tons), Barisal (3463 tons) and Sylhet (1750) (figure below). That means the production of onion followed the trend of that acreages of the respective divisions.
Productivity of onion by divisions
The productivity did not follow the trend of neither the acreage nor that of the production showing the highest productivity in Khulna division (12.91 t/ha). The second highest productive division was Dhaka (9.17 t/ha). The Rangpur and Mymensingh divisions had the productivity of 6.73 to 7.71 t/ha). Productivity of the fourth category was in Sylhet division (3.75 t/ha). Chittagong and Barisal division had the lowest productivity status showing the respective values of 4.75 and 3.93 t/ha. (figure below).
The leading onion growing districts in terms of acreage under onion cultivation
Compared to other 59 districts, the production of onion cultivation is greater in five districts; Pabna (42476 ha 22.86% of the acreage), Faridpur (33186 ha 17.86%), Rajbari (26169 ha 14.08%), Rajshahi (11162 ha 6.01%) and Kustia (10415 ha 5.61%). The total coverage of these five districts are 66.41% of the total onion acreage in Bangladesh. In the second category excluding the above said districts, three districts (Acres: Manikgonj-17808, Jhinaidaho-16236 and Magura-13897; follow following table) have greater areas comprising 10.45% of the total onion-lands; and in combination with the above said five leading districts, the total coverage under onion cultivation by these eight districts is 76.86% of the Bangladesh total onion lands.
The leading contributor districts in terms of onion production
The production of onion cultivation is greater in five districts (Production & % of the total onion production: 385669 tons 20.66%); Pabna (431091 tons 23.09%), Faridpur, Rajbari (169417 tons 9.08%), Rajshahi (160873 tons 8.62%) and then Kustia (127547 tons 6.83%). These five districts produce 68.28% of the total onion produced in Bangladesh. The production from Jhenaidah district is also substantial (84176 tons 4.51%) and combined with the major five onion-producing districts, these six districts contribute 72.71% to the national annual production.
The leading districts in terms of onion productivity
The productivity of onion in different districts ranged from 1.911/ha at Patuakhali to 14.412 t/ha at Rajshahi. There is an exceptional instance of having the onion productivity at Meherpur district showing 24.980 t/ha, although there is evidences that our neighboring country ‘’ produces 25-30 tons of onion per hectare in some of its lands. The Meherpur district produces 73473 tones of onion from its 7265 acres of land. Excluding the data of Meherpur (table follows in some of the forwarding pages), the greatest productive land lies in the district of Rajshahi (14.412 t/ha) and then the order becomes in sequence under the districts of Kustia (12.264 t/ha), Faridpur (11.621 t/ha), Pabna (10.149 t/ha) and Rajbari (6.474 t/ha). That is, although the total production followed the acreage, the productivity differed showing the top productive lands in Rajshahi. Rajshahi, Kustia and Faridpur districts produced onion above 10 tons per hectare (table below). It was also observed that despite having more coverage with onion, Dhaka and Rajshahi division has lower productivity as compared to that of Khulna division which may the attributed to the exceptionally highest yield in Meherpur district (24.98 t/ha). The reasons for this high onion yield at Meherpur district need to be found out which may include farmers good management practices, soil and environmental privileges and varietal choice. Whatever may be the reasons, it happened if the data is not erratic. However, excluding the productivity of Meherpur, the average yield across the districts of Khulna divisions is 9.40 tons per hectare which is below that of the Rahshahi and equals to that of the Dhaka division.
Strategies to increase onion acreage and production in Bangladesh
Scope of increasing the onion acreage based on the suitability of lands
In Bangladesh 63% (6149 thousand hectares) of the net cropped land is suitable for growing onion of which 5% (478 thousands hectares) are very suitable, 29% (2832 thousands ha) is suitable and 29% is marginally suitable (Hussain, 2010). At present, 459 thousands hectares are under onion cultivation (BBS, 2018). That is, at present onion is not being even grown fully utilizing the most suitable lands in Bangladesh (96%) leaving still 4% of its most suitable lands outside the onion cultivation. Further, six times more lands as compared to that currently used are suitable wherein onion may be cultivated successfully. However, in those lands, many other important crops are being grown. So, two alternatives are left; one - to increase the per hectare productivity and the second - to promote onion cultivation in the summer season when the crop-completions is lesser compared to those in the winter season.
Finding niches to incorporate onion in the existing rabi (winter) season’s patterns
Bangladesh cropping pattern with onion has been studied in a project (Nasim et al., 2017). It was observed that there are seventeen cropping patterns with onion in Bangladesh. Let us have a little look in to that and find some niches to wherein onion could be incorporated to increase its acreage.
The cropping patterns having onion along with the component crops in sequence
In the following paragraphs, different cropping patterns with onion (Masum et al., 2017) are described where the area covered and the percent of the net cropped area of the country have been shown in parentheses.
The greatest pattern with onion is the Onion−Jute−T. Aman (54185 ha - 0.633% of net cropped area) and the second largest pattern is Onion−Jute−Fallow (45200 ha - 0.528%). That is, the major share of onion remains with the jute cultured lands. In these patterns, the onion is grown early in the winter season transplanting onion seedlings in the month of October. These two patters comprise the total area of 99385 hectares. In these lands water gets dry either after the harvest of transplanted aman rice or on lands which were kept fellow in rainy season due to deep water regime.
After the jute based cropping patterns, it is the transplanted aman based patterns which has the second greatest area having onion in the patterns. The transplanted aman rice crop is grown in the time span of July to October when almost all the lands in Bangladesh looks green and occupied by crops. Only some vegetable crops such as colocasia is sporadically cultivated which is used as one of the vegetable in Bangladesh. The patterns with transplanted Aman having onion cover 70105 ha of lands. In such lands, the preceding crops are jute/boro rice/winter crops/vegetable. Such lands are of medium to medium low wherein transplanted aman is grown after harvesting jute or after a short span of fallow period at the post harvest of rabi or boro crops. The T. aman based cropping patterns with onion have been identified to be six, such as Onion−Fallow−T. Aman (6380 ha - 0.074%), Onion−Aus−T. Aman (4260 ha - 0.050%), onion – Sesame − T. Aman (3080 ha - 0.036%), Onion−Maize−T. Aman (1490 ha - 0.017%), Potato−Onion−T. Aman (510 ha 0.006%) and Vegetab−Onion−Jute−T. Aman (200 ha - 0.002%).
Onion is also grown before sowing or transplanting aus rice which is the third greatest pattern containing onion totaling 19875 ha of lands. In general onion in such patterns are planted before sowing or transplanting aus rice. In Bangladesh Aus rice is grown in the month of March – April under either rain fed or transplanted. The rainfed aus rice has been drastically reduced in Bangladesh as the sowing time overlaps with the later stage of the boro rice. In some areas the aus rice is grown using irrigation wherein seedlings are transplanted after harvesting some of the rabi crops among which onion is the main one. There are five onion and aus rice containing patterns which are: Onion−Aus−Fallow (8705 ha - 0.102%), Onion−Aus−T. Aman (4260 ha - 0.050%), Vegetable−Onion−Aus (3200 ha - 0.037%), Wheat − Aus −Onion (1900 ha - 0.022%) and Onion−Aus−Blackgram (1810 ha - 0.021%).
The pattern with B. aman rice and onion falls at the forth position having two patterns; one with only B. Aman (Onion−B.Aman (10905 ha - 0.127%) and another includes sesame which is grown before sowing of B. Aman (Onion−Sesame+B.Aman (2100 ha 0.025%). These two patterns have 13005 ha of lands in their commands. The cropping pattern having onion and B. aman is mainly of two-crop pattern. There is another pattern with B. Aman which is of three-crop pattern with an additional crop sesame grown in the pre-monsoon season after the harvest of early onion. Such lands are low wherein broadcast aman rice is direct-sown in the months of March - April at the onset of rain which is harvested in the month of November – December along with the main rice crop ‘transplanted aman’. This time, most of the lands of Bangladesh become free of gravitational water. The low land areas can never be used for growing transplanted aman rice as the seedlings can not be transplanted due to deep water above one meter during June – August time. Such lands are the storage of rain water or flood water coming across the border.
There is a vegetable-crop based pattern with onion having an area of 11735 ha which is high and wherein rain or flood water never stands and in these lands year round vegetable can be grown. In such lands onion is grown in October through March and thereafter two vegetable crops can be grown sequentially. This pattern is: Onion−Vegetable−Vegetable (11735 ha- 0.137%).
There is another type of land having onion in the cropping pattern. These lands are very low in elevation and remains water stagnated in the rainy season; so no crop can be grown in such lands except in the dry spell of winter. This types of lands have two cropping patterns; one with sesame which is sown after the harvest of onion and another is maize in the place of sesame. Such lands with onion and maize accounts a total of 10495 hectares that has either aus, sesame or in some instance maize at the post-harvest of onion wherein onion is grown in rabi season (winter) planting in the month November or December and thereafter maize, sesame or aus is grown in the pre-monsoon season. In the pre-monsoon time maize is generally grown for fodder in Bangladesh. There are three cropping patterns with onion in these low lands where T. aman can not be grown and these are Onion−Aus−Fallow (8705 ha - 0.102%), Onion−Sesame−Fallow (1270 ha - 0.015%) and Onion−Maize−Fallow (520 ha - 0.006%).
It would be worthy that in Bangladesh, there are some low lands where not even the deep water paddy can stand in the rainy season due to the water depth beyond plants’ maximum height. As a result, such lands are kept totally fallow as the rice plants can not anchor to the soil because of its plant height in comparison to the depth of water.
The pattern in high lands having onion and aus may include blackgram which is grown in the rainy season’s time Monsoon). A three-crop pattern containing onion is Onion−Aus−Blackgram which accounts for 1810 ha land and 0.021% of the net cropped area; and the two-crop pattern with onion is Onion−Aus−Fallow (8705 ha - 0.102%).
Cropping Patterns with summer onion in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, there are some areas wherein summer onions are grown after harvesting aus rice. Such lands are high in elevation where rain water does not stand. Wheat−Aus−Onion is the pattern and the pattern covers 1900 ha of lands (0.022% of the net cropped area). Summer onion production is constrained with the medium to heavy rainfall coupled with high temperature when incidence of disease and insect is more frequent in comparison to those as observed in rabi season. However, in controlled environment under transparent shed to prevent rain is one of the ways to boost production in summer season although this incurs an extra production cost.
Onion in Bangladesh is largely grown during winter season, but in now a days, summer onions are also produced although in a limited scale to reduce the deficit in onion production (BBS, 2017). As described above, in winter it is mostly grown in T aman rice based cropping patterns in the medium high lands using the major cropping pattern of Mustard-Onion-T. Aman rice. Currently onion in this mustard-based pattern is seen to be being replaced by maize; and as such onion has been competitive to maize in this pattern reforming the pattern as Mustard-summer Onion/Maize-T. Aman Rice. Along with some other area, the pattern is dominantly observed in Pabna.
This competition of onion and maize in the same season on the same land can be avoided by relaying maize in onion filed. In one trial the feasibility of relaying maize with onion has been evaluated in the pattern Mustard-Onion/Maize-T. Aman Rice planting maize seeds in the 70 days onion field. It was found that this relayed pattern had greater rice equivalent yield (29.95 t/ha, total field duration of four crop (340 days), production efficiency (88.1 kg/ha/day) and land use efficiency (93.15%) against the sole onion in the sequence having respective values of 21.76, 270, 80.58 and 73.15. That is growing sole maize in rice based cropping pattern can be made more profitable incorporating onion as the main crop in the maize-relayed four crop system. This will also increase the cropping intensity of the area. In Bangladesh maize has been very popular as these can be sold in the market at a fair price. Recently maize grains have been being used as feeds for both poultry and livestock. Bangladesh has flourished in its poultry industry. Moreover, a substantial portion of maize grains is used for the preparation of fish feeds in which sector Bangladesh is almost self sufficient. Using this relay based Mustard-summer Onion/Maize-T. Aman Rice in which onion and maize can be grown simultaneously as Bangladesh requires both of these crops. It is also to be mentioned here that maize in Bangladesh is grown in rabi and also in the kharif 1. The rabi maize is sown after the harvest of T. aman in the system Maize-Aus-Long duration T.aman whereas, the Kharif 1 maize crop is sown after the harvest of potato in the cropping system of Potato-Maize-Early T.aman.
Giving emphasis on to grow correct crop on correct lands on correct time to achieve the maximum per unit land productivity
We must recognize that it would be very difficult to grow all the crops we need in Bangladesh for getting products up to an amount as the country requires for its consumers annually. Because the country has lesser per capita agricultural land (0.047 ha) as needed due to its huge population. So, planning strategies have to be set in such a way that the resources are utilized most efficiently producing the products as much as possible especially for having those for which we have to spend our reserved foreign currency to import.
Onion ranks 10th position in respect of trade value after palm oil, cane sugar, wheat, soybean oil, pulses, cotton, soybean grains, rape seeds wherein the onion costs trade values of 22837 thousand US dollars annually for its import (countryaah.com). So, agricultural produce having higher trade values for import must also be given emphasis so that the acreage and productivity of those crops can be increased to save foreign currency. For this, the lands in which the best crop in respect of productivity should be chosen. That is, we have to grow correct crop(s) on correct time on correct lands.
The following section may help us to select the most suitable areas for onion production without disturbing the cropping patterns with other crops which along with the onion are in deficit and being imported from abroad.
Based on the above information given above while presenting the data under division and district level especially in major growing area, let us analyze the situations. A particular cropping pattern is developed by a number of actors which may include farmers or locality’s crops’ needs, market demands, profitability, soil characteristics and socio-cultural aspects. While a particular cropping pattern is adopted by the farmers of a locality, that means it has been supported by most of the above mentioned actors. In the story as described in the above sections with the onion statistics in different divisions especially major onion growing districts, it was observed that onion was not equally grown across the country. Faridpur, Rajbari, Pabna, Rajshahi and Kustia districts are the top yielders of onion in Bangladesh. Magura, Meherpur, Brahmanbaria, Chandpur and Bhola districts also grows some amount but that contribute less to the total onion production in Bangladesh.
Besides the districts mentioned above, all other districts also produce some amount of onion although those are also almost negligible compared to the leading onion producing districts. And although those are not remarkably contributing to the country’s total onion production, these minor onion producing districts meet up at least some of the total requirement of its own district preventing a mass transport from other or neighboring districts. This also helps keep local market price lower as the transport cost from other district is not added to the market price.
Giving emphasis on summer onion production
Summer onion varieties should also be promoted as they could be grown round the year, give higher yields and mature in a shorter period compared to the winter onions. For doing this, the first priority is the increasing the seed production capacity for the summer varieties. BARI has released three onion varieties for summer season. In one study, it was observed that the yield of BARI piaj-2 was higher than the BARI piaj-3 and BARI piaj-5 showing the average yields 12.72, 12.33 and 12.18 t/ha, respectively (Haq et al., 2016). However, from the farmers’ opinion, BARI Piaz-5 has been reported to perform that best giving high yields that compares to those generally obtained with the winter crops grown in the higher yielding areas of Pabna and Rajshahi. Moreover, the duration of the summer onion is 30-40 days lesser than the those of the winter ones. Further in summer season (Kharif), number of crops to be grown are fewer as compared to those of the winter season (rabi).
Avoiding pre and post-harvest loss to increase the supply of onion in the market
Improving storage facilities
Under Bangladesh condition storage is done with the product of rabi for 4 to 5 months. Using organic matters in the fields increases the storage capability of onion along with the use of other chemical fertilizer. Immediate after harvest, the onion along with leaves should be dried in the sun for 8-10 days, this also improves colour. The storage condition the storage temperature and humidity is very important. Keeping storage temperature between 25-30 degree C with relative humidity 65-70% is optimum. Reducing humidity may cause drying.
At storage, drying of onion continues losing moisture in the bulb resulting in bulb weight reduction. Another loss arises from storage rot (picture below) which becomes serious when bulbs is infested by bulb rotting fungi and bacteria (Jones and Mann, 1963). Such loss occurs being infested by about 15 different fungal species and five bacterial species in the storage in the world causing a loss of up to 40% (Aiyer, 1980). Under Bangladesh condition Black mould rot (Aspergillus niger, picture below), Grey neck rot (Botrytis allii), White rot (Sclerotium cepivorum, picture below), soft rot and Dry rot (Macrophomina phasiolina). Among these, black mold rot may become serious causing a drastic loss at high storage temperature and high relative humidity.
Picture below: Black rot of onion bulb. Source:pestnet.org
Ficture below:White rot onion, source: white rot gardeninf which.co.uk
Picture below: onion storage rot, source:extension.umaine.edu
Factors influencing storage bulbs are variety, growing season, harvesting stage, curing, fertilizer and irrigation application, storage techniques, storage conditions, temperature and humidity etc. Early harvesting results in sprouting of bulbs (Picture below ) while late harvesting results in formation of secondary roots during storage. Thick-neck bulbs resulting from premature harvesting also do not store well. The bulbs should be graded according to size and quality. Cool, dry and well ventilated store room will keep onion bulbs in good conditions for many months. On average, the storage loss of onion bulb may be 45-60% due to respiration weight loss, rotting of bulb and sprouting. This storage loss can be minimized by selection of suitable varieties with long shelf life, efficient irrigation management, balanced fertilization, optimum time of planting, proper harvesting time and improved storage. In cold storage, onion can be stored nearly for 10-12 months with temperature 0-5ºC and relative humidity 60%. The rabi (winter) onion store well than the kharif ones (Chowdhury and Hassan, 2013 ).
Picture below: onion sprouting in storage. Source: dreamstrime.com
Controlled atmosphere storage is increasingly practiced to maintain quality in store over longer periods and extend the marketing period. Maintaining CO2 levels at 5% inhibits fungal sporulation and O2 at 3% reduces sprouting.
Temperatures should be around 34°F {1.11 deg cen} to help reduce respiration and relative humidity kept at 65-70% in order to inhibit fungal spread.
Pre-harvest (2-3 w) spray maleic hydrazide prolongs the storability inhibiting sprouting, ethephon pre-harvest spray (25 w), ethylene, fumigation with Sulphur dust before storage, variety having longer dormancy period,
Increasing Productivity for increasing the total production through some improved practices
Onion is one of the profitable crops in Bangladesh although there arises some turmoil due to occasional natural hazards and incidental unexpected situation in the international trade and inland’s uncontrolled business management. All of the above is difficult to handle and so Bangladesh has to adopt some other alternative ways to solve its onion crisis to increase onion’s supply in its market.
The per-capita land of the Bangladeshi people is very low, assuming net cropped area and country’s population respectively 7.93 million hectare and 170 million, it is near about 0.047 hectare. So, horizontal expansion of onion cultivation would be very difficult without removing some other crops from our cropping system. Vertical expansion through adopting and practicing improved technologies are then remain to be the alternatives.
Bangladesh has varieties of limitations in respect to its resources and for its unpredictable climate nature. Further the global climate change has added huge to the pre-existing limitations. Owing to these limitations onion production is not sustainable yet and there is variations in onion productivity from region to region and even on the national perspective. Despite these sorts of limitations, the per hectare productivity has been increasing year after year rising from 3.940 tons in 2090 to 10.045 tons in 2014-15 growing season although this average productivity has dropped to 9.79 t/ha in 2017-18 (BBS, 2018).
It was previously discussed above that the maximum productivity was noticed in Meherpur district which exceeded 24 tons/ha. Provided that the Meherpur’s yield productivity is unusual, then taking the BBS (2018) yield data of Rajshahi district which was 14.412 tons/ha and the least productivity of Patuakhali district which was 1.911 tons/ha, we observe that there is a long yield variation gap which is 12.501 tons/ha. Although filling this gap is not really possible due to our respective district’s local resource and natural limitations, on the estimation ground we could say that we may produce at least 2680 thousand tons which may be more high compared to that of our current annual onion production of 1867 thousand tons from 186 thousand hectare of land (BBS, 2018). Onion production was 2400 thousand tons during 2018-2019 growing seasons and our current demand is said to be 3300 to 3600 thousand tons (Minto, ; Sobhan, 2019 ). So, if this potential could be achieved, we must even import over 800 thousand tons of onion annually to meet up our local demand.
However, the situation of Meherpur may direct us the way of having the maximum potential of yield productivity of over 24 tons/ha which will make us capable of producing onion in Bangladesh 4464 thousands tons annually. This may be an arbitrary assumption but it could be reached provided all the socio-economic, crop management and natural conditions of Rajshahi district and or Meherpur districts are set everywhere in Bangladesh where onion is currently grown. Even in our neibouring country India, onion is grown at the productivity rate of 30 tons/ha. The above demonstrations proved that even if we can raise our national yield over 14 tons/ha. We have to import onion from abroad using our valuable currency. It is therefore mandatory that after adopting necessary measures to reach the maximum potential, we must find another ways as well to increase onion production in Bangladesh.
Sowing on right time, using good varieties, fertilizer, weed control and irrigation are among the most important management practices to boost per hectare productivity of onion. Such management practices are generated mainly by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and have been compiled by Chowdhury and Hassan (2013).
One other factor, ‘onion bolting’ (bolting pictures below) affects onion bulb yield severely. The onion bolting refers to the emergence of seed stalk prior to the formation and development of bulb. The seed onion crop does not form bulb or very small sized if formed. Onion flower stalk has also commercial importance as like onion bulbs these onion flower stalk is sale hot which are in preparing vegetable curries for increasing the taste. This bolted onion flower stalk also contributes to farmers income and this also reduces the boundless to have credits during onion production.
Picture below: onion bolting at SAU experimental field, (my file IMG_8158 onion flower a)
Picture below: bolted onion seldom produces bulb (my file: IMG_8246 seed production c)
Increasing productivity through requisite input supply
Seed production
Among all the inputs, seed is the one that the onion farmers think the most prime one. Both to promote and increase the productivity of onion, supply of enough and good seed to the farmers should get the principal responsibility of the respective authority. Haque (2011) reported that out of total production cost of Tk 93517 per hectare, the cost for buying seeds/seedling was 41% which was the major one followed by that incurred by human labour cost (24%). To promote onion in more lands, there is no other alternatives without increasing the supply of good seeds. Onion seedlings are more prone to surrounding environmental condition especially the soil moisture. Seedlings may be infected by many bacterial and fungal disease organisms which must be taken care with.
Picture below: Bolting of onion at SAU (my file:DSC_0301 onion plant SAU)
In Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) has the main mandate of both seed production and distribution which should be more capacitated in this respect. For seed production the most favourable regions should be selected for onion seed production.
In Bangladesh, farmers start sowing seed of early varieties of onion from mid-October to last after harvesting short duration Transplanted Aman rice. This early onions are harvested starting from December which, although in controversy regarding the profits, helps stabilizing the onion market price to some extent.
Like the bulb production, the yield of onion seed is remarkably affected by the on time irrigation. In Bangladesh, the productivity of onion varies from 370 to 500 kg of seeds/ha (Hossain et al., 2017) leaving a wider scope to increase to make is comparable to those of the world onion seed production of 1,000-1,200 kg/ha.
The seed production programmes should correlate varietal choice of the farmers. Along with the BARI released varieties the available local varieties (Taherpuri, Faridpuri, Shuk Sagar, Bahadur, Lalima, Ranga) should to be evaluated in respect of productivity and pest resistant capability. In one of the studies it was revealed that Taherpuri along with BARI Piaz-2 and BARI Piaz-3 were of the primary choice. In another study some exotic cultivars such as Burma spindle have been observed to produce maximum number of umbels and seeds; and also higher seed weight per plant followed by Taherpuri and Burma. However, these are just examples; the better choice of varieties should on the basis of the existing data base of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) of the Bangladesh government. Three irrigations each at vegetative, flowering, and seed formation stage have been suggested for successful onion production under irrigation water shortage situation [Roy et al. 2014].
Besides timely irrigation, the most important other managements are fertilization, weeding and pest control. Foliage breaking is also another problem as the flowering stalk of onion is very long that may face breakage due to speedy air flow that is frequent in the seed formation stage in Bangladesh. Staking is the only way to prevent stalk breakage of onion seed-crop (Pictures below). Staking should be made around the units of two to four rows at 65 days after planting using bamboo sticks and jute ropes to keep the flower stalk erect. Besides reducing the seed yield, breakage of the flower stalks also leads to higher percentage of chaffy seeds.
The first picture of two below shows a seed production trials at SAU and the second one from one of the seed production projects at Pirgonj of Bangladesh collected from facebook posted by Sadiq Shaon.
Picture below: Seed production trial at SAU
Picture below: Showing staking in the seed production field of a project at Pirgonj of Bangladesh collected from the facebook posted by Sadiq Shaon (my file: onion flower rope).
Improving productivity through providing on-time irrigation
Timely frequent irrigation 3 cm per installment is good for achieving the high and quality bulb yield. I was reported that being shallow numerous fibrous root system, onion needs continuous water supply up to the depth of 10 cm from the surface of the soil. Besides declining the bulb yield, drying and breakage of the bulb surface scale hampers the quality and market price of the bulbs. So, for profitable onion production enterprise, irrigation schedule has been identified one of the most important agronomic managements. Three irrigations each at vegetative, flowering, and seed formation stage have been suggested for successful onion production under irrigation water shortage situation [Roy et al. 2014].
Three irrigations each at vegetative, flowering, and seed formation stage may be the optimum and feasible irrigation scheduling for onion seed production under irrigation water shortage situation [Roy et al. 2014].
Improving productivity through fertilizer application
Onion has profuse fibrous shallow root system and needs enough plant nutrients for good yields. The varieties available in Bangladesh can yield up to 13 tons per hectare having fertilized with (Haq et al. 2016) under the application per hectare of cowdung (5-10 t/ha), TSP (220 kg), MoP (150 kg) and gypsum. Excepting the cowdung other chemical fertilizer supply in the Bangladesh market is uninterrupted and even government gives subsidy in some of the items to encourage farmers for crop production. Despite this continuous supply of the chemical fertilizers in the market, the productivity varies from region to regions. The inherent capacity of the soil along with other cultural management may be one of the many reasons. For example, the Pabna (of Pabna Upazilla) soil has greater potash supplying capacity like some other upazillas of Bangladesh () which may be one of the attributes of higher yield of onion in Pabna as the onion is a potash responsive crop ().
Improving productivity using improved varieties
Applying improved management along with supply of enough inputs will not be profitable if the grown variety is well responsive to those managements. From the crop production practices two varieties was popular, Taherpuri and Burma long of which Taherpuri is still being used. BARI has developed some new improved varieties which has yield potential up to 13 tons/ha. BARI Piaz-1 and 4 has been released for the production in winter, while BARI Piaz- 2, BARI Piaz-3 and BARI Piaz-5 can be grown in both winter and summer. These varieties takes only 60-70 days while the winter crop takes 90 to 110 days excepting BARI Piaz-1 which matures in 130-140 days. Most of these varieties are more or less thrips and purple blotch resistant and if infested can be controlled by applying malathion and Bavistin/rovral/ridomil using proper dose at seven days interval.
Picture below showing BARI Piaz-5 plants
While choosing varieties, it is important to select them considering the existing cropping pattern so that other component crops in cropping pattern are not disturbed and the selected varieties well fits in the pattern. As the onion faces competition with other winter crops such as wheat, maize, oilseeds and pulses - attempts may be enforced to increase its acreage in summer when in most of the areas summer maize sown at the later part of winter (February) especially in the north and green gram especially in the south might be the major ones among other competitor crops. So, to expand onion acreage, it is important to find the nitches to grow onion in summer in a large scale. However, for the successful production it would have no other alternatives to find more productive varieties having more rain and heat tolerance capabilities compared to the existing ones.
Improving productivity through Pest control
In the summer the infestation by purple blotch (picture below) is one of the main threats which may reduce yield up to 25%. Selecting a well drained soil and collecting seeds from the disease free plants may help reduce the infestation of this pathogen. Some other pathogen such as downy mildew and black smut may attack the crop both in winter and summer. Spraying dithane M-45 at 10-20 days interval may keep the crop safe. Further, following a regular crop rotation is a good cultural way to reduce the pest infestation in onion. One prominent insect of onion is thrips that suck saps from the foliage and reduced bulb and seed yields. This can be controlled spraying Malathion (or other short duration insecticide) based on the scouting observations at different places when the infection becomes severe. The spray should be through coverage in the tissue as the thrips hide in the folded place of two adjacent leaves at the bases of the lamina. Overhead irrigation and rainfall reduces thrips infection. Cleaning stable in the onion fields also prevent the thrips infection. However, the sprayed onion should not be harvested or consumed at least 15 days later of spray application.
Picture below showing purple blotch infestation in onion. source dreamtime.com (my file: Pic thrips)
Picture below: Showing a infested plot of onion. Source: dreamstime.com
Picture below: Downy-mildew + purple blotch infested onion plot causing foliage death. Source: canr.msu.edu
The average yield of onion in Bangladesh is far below being 4 t ha [1 BBS, 2004] as compared to world average of 17.45 t ha [FAO, 2004].
Among the fungi, Black mould rot (Aspergillus niger), Blue mould rot (Penicillium spp.), Fusarium bulb rot (Fusarium spp.), Basal rot (Fusarium moniliforme), Aspergillus rot (Aspergillus spp.), Dry rot (Macrophomina phasiolina), Soft rot (Erwinia spp.), Smudge (Colletotrichum circinans), Grey neck rot (Botrytis allii), Green mold rot (Penicillium spp.),White rot (Sclerotium cepivorum) and Anthracnose (Colletotrichum chardonianum) (Rangaswami and Mahadevan, 2004). Among these, black mould rot (A. niger) is more severe in storage. A. niger and A. flavus infect onion at high temperature and high relative humidity. Whereas Penicillium spp. destroys onion at low temperature. It is reported that the predominant fungal pathogens associated with the storage diseases of onions were Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp. and Fusarium sp. (Velez et al., 2004, Raju and Nail, 2006).
Picture below: Onion neck rot. Source: onion neck rot rhs gardening
Reducing loss maintaining and improving the bulb quality
In the storage, the quality of onion depends on some factors among which selection of Variety, dose and methods of fertilizer application, irrigation, drying onion in the field, storage condition and storage structure are the prime ones. Using balanced fertilizer along with plenty of organic manure in the field increases the onion storability. Although onion can tolerate a long period of drought, the water availability at the upper surface of the soil is critical for the good yield and quality onion. Onion need high water requirement and the moisture supply during growth should be steady and uninterrupted, otherwise dryness may cause splitting of the outer scales of onion. As the root system of onion is shallow, water uptake is restricted to the top 10 inches of the soil and three centimeter irrigation per week is required to keep the well moistened surrounding of the root system. Irrigation is to be stopped when the tops (foliage) mature starting drying up and 60-85% neck has fallen down due to the breakage above the junction with the bulb.
After harvest the onion bulb is to be dried in the sun for 7-10 day (pic below) and the dried onion again needs period of curing. This helps to seal the neck, prevent intrusion of pathogen and as such to reduce loss due to rots. Curing also helps to create a bright crack-free skin.
Picture below: Onion drying in the field
The bulb size and quality of onion will be as better as the bolting happens as much as later. Bolting can be delayed pre-harvest spraying Maleic hydrazide at the rate 2000-2500 ppm just before the neck fall (Pic below). Sprouting, rotting and physiological loss in the storage reduces weight loss of onion from 40-60%. So, there should be specialized storage so that the growers can store their product for longer period to avoid post-harvest loss which could be reduce by 15% if it is equipped with cooling facility.
Picture below: Showinhg onion neckfall, the symptom of onion maturity. Surce: steemit
After harvesting and drying, the foliage should be removed carefully and the cuts should carefully be handled as it may allow pathogen to enter. In many instances and in many countries, immediate after harvest the 30-40 bulbs along with leaves are tied together at neck point and hung from the ceiling for drying. This system is useful in the rainy harvest season when there is lack of sunshine. This also reduces bulb bruising of the bulb avoiding rough handling. Following hanging method after, the harvested onions can be stored for 45 days. In hanging method, after drying or just after harvest if there is rain outside (in summer), 15-20 mature plants are tied together in a bunch by knots, are hanged from ceiling avoiding repeated hand touching that cause bruising on the surface which accelerate the entrance of pathogens and expose the bulbs to rot disease while in the storage (Hanging picture below).
Picture below: Onion bunch hanged for drying under roof or in a house. Source: https://www.canstockphoto.com/onions-hanging-to-dry-15143763.html
The extent of onion rot can be reduced substantially through safe handling by the labourers while loading and unloading from shipment. At this transportation time, onion sacks and bulbs need to be carefully handled to minimize bruising as bruising hastens onion rots.
The storage structure and methods of storability affects the keeping duration of the onion. For short day storage, bag storage is used which is the worst to store onion for long time. However, now a days perforated bags are used to transport for marketing of onion which prevents onion rot for some days. If with ventilation facility, the storage becomes the best.
Specialized storage such as ventilated bamboo structure made 30-60 cm above the soil reduce onion rot to a certain extent. ‘Vengaya pattarai’ structure is made with a neem wooden flatform surrounding hand woven jute gunnybags and then covering the whole structure by the thatched roof of coconut leaves or any dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes, heather, or palm branches. Such type of roof also helps for insulation of the storage. There is another improved structure for the storage of onion called ‘Chawl’ equipped with bottom and central ventilation. This storage is made 60 cm above the ground at 1.5-2 m height wherein onion can be stored for five months. Before storing, the storage structure should be sprayed with fungicides such as 10 g Bavistin + 15 ml neuocron in 10 L water. This will keep onion protect from various pest (indiaagronet.com).
Onion can also be stored for 90 days in ‘Tat’ storage structure which is made on a brick base with ventilation facility. In case method with plenty ventilation facility the bulbs can be stored for 90 days leading in lesser spoilage and also reducing sprouting up to 40%. There is another pucca-floor based storage called ‘room storage’ having dry sands on the floor base wherein onion can be stored for 150 days. Wire mesh shed better than room storage. In Sudan mud or straw roof on the storage is used with proper ventilation wherein onion is stored for 50 days. When outside, the storage platform may be 30 cm above the ground made of either cemented or bamboo made. The bamboo made floor helps ventilation. The storage roof may be made of thatched straw, sugarcane trash or asbestos sheet to keep temperature down to avoid from exposure to direct sunshine and rain.
‘Modified ventilated structure is equipped with forced ventilation facility wherein onion can safely stored for up to 8 months. In bottom ventilation structure onion can be stored for up to 150 days of which two tire system is better than bamboo structure. The most improved structure is controlled structure or atmospheric storage wherein the surrounding carbon di oxide, oxygen and temperature is controlled (5% CO2 + 3% O2 + temperature below 5 degrees). In this storage, onion can be stored for up to 7 months. In such storage, elevated CO2 concentrations plus reduced O2 concentration helps onion to prevent rots. Specialised cold storages can help reduce the post-harvest loss by 10 to 15 percent.
Lowering the consumption
Onion is not treated as a food item in Bangladesh by the consumers. It is mainly used to increase the taste of curries. For maintaining the health of the human body it is not even required to eat onion regularly. So, on the crisis time when the supply of onion in the market becomes limited and its price gets hiked, some of the amount of it may be reduced. The execution of this attitude will surely depend on the food habit of the consumers.
Upon this attitude there were so many posts in the facebook and also in other mass media suggesting using less onion in their curries or even preparing food without onion along with giving so many tips about how to make foods tasty without adding onion. Even Bangladeshi Prime minister ordered her cooks not to add onion while preparing foods for her and also advised people just to avoid onion so that the market price declines for declining the demand of onion in the market.
Stabilizing onion market through finding alternative ways
Finding alternative crops or ways of cultivation
Onion is added to the curries to make those tasty and under the severe deficit of it some alternative recipes have also been suggested. Among those ‘chive’ was in the first choice which resemble onion plants (picture below) and has also a pungent taste like onion.
Picture below: Experimental plots with chives (Chinese garlic) posted in facebook.
Picture below: Onion/garlic like plants chives (Chinese garlic) posted in facebook.
Cultivation in bottles
Rabi Sankar posted in facebook from France describing the method of onion cultivation in five liter water of oil plastic bottles making 40-50 holes of 10 cm dia. The bottle is then filled with organic soil and transplanting onion seedlings each in a hole. The weekly irrigation is 500 ml.
The bottles can be kept at balconies or hanging from poles in fallow lands or roof. Assuming the weight of a single onion bulb to be as five grams, 200 grams of onion can be harvested from each bottle per two months. For a person, ten bottles will be required and for a five-member family, fifty bottles will supply full onion needs. Such an approach should not be neglected, but is not impossible to grow onion in fifty bottles if those could be set on the roof tops or in the open space of a fallen courtyard and taken care on regular basis.
Picture below: Onion cultivation in bottles: source: facebook.
Growing aerial onion on the leaves
When import of onion has been going on, one enthusiast published shared the following picture in facebook saying that it wa an Egyptian onion variety produce aerial onion at the top of the inflorescence stalk. If such a variety can be developed at least an avenue will be open to use these aerial onion bulbs along with the inflorescence stalk in the crisis period before the full maturation of the under ground bulb and in this situation the possibility of having both aerial and underground bulbs from the same plant will be created.
Picture below: Onion with aerial bulbs. Source: facebook
Avoiding Socio-political chaos and conserving consumer’s/farmer’s interests
Besides increasing the supply of onion in the market by increasing the acreage and productivity, among other most important tasks of the government is to monitor market at least three months ahead of appearing the social chaos, be vigilant against mass illegal storage by the businessmen during September to December and market interventions during the chaos.
Increasing commodity price at pick may cause in the market on consumers interest issue which the government give most emphasis on to avoid political turmoil. Such happens not only in Bangladesh, but also there are evidences of having the country on unrest by the opposition who takes the advantage of price hike of the commodity market.
Onion crisis or price inflation of onion in country has been the cause of changing the government. In India, Indira Gandhi came in power in 1980 citing anarchy centering onion market prices which hiked above the purchaser’s capability level. In the same country, such situation again became an issue in 1998 election and also again in 2010 that has created an political chaos. The sky rocketing price hike of the onion in Bangladesh has been a matter of debate in the parliament as the consequence of public discontents saying that the onion price had climbed to an eye-watering levels and most of the parliamentarism blamed the businessmen who made groin stock to make an artificial crisis in the onion market. The conundrum with onion price hike also sparked anger of the consumers in some places although there was an opinion saying that this price rise should be taken as an intensive to the farmers as it would encourage to produce more for achieving more profit. The time when onion was the reason of eye tearing to the consumers, the price of some agricultural commodities in the market along with rice dropped at the bottom causing a great loss to the farmers, politics also was in favour of increasing the such price rise. However, this price rise happened on a time when farmers did not have this product in their homes
There another social problems arises when the market price increases abnormally and that is onion being theft at night that cause serious shock to the farmers (picture below). However, this type of thefting is not so acute in Bangladesh.
Picture below: A farmer mourning for his stolen onion from the field. Source: Bangladesh Today.
Planning and management scopes
The first approach is to increase the per hectare productivity of this crop using good varieties so that using the same acreage we can produce more by reducing the yield gaps that exist among different onion growing areas.
Second attempt might be to find out the niches for increasing the acreage of onion not disturbing the lands occupied by other important crops especially which like onion we have to import from other countries using our foreign currency.
The third approach is to carry on research so as to growing onion in either in intercrop with any other main crops or relaying other crops with the onion so that the existing patterns not disturbed.
The fourth point to consider is giving emphasis on increasing the productivity of the existing onion varieties and to develop more responsive varieties to the agronomic management. Taking in mind the facts of natural hazards, climate change and the time of the deficit of onion in the market, varieties are to be developed. On this context rain and heat tolerant varieties are to be given emphasis on so that the onion cultivation can be more expanded in summer as in rabi season accommodation of onion would be more difficult as many other important crops are to be grown in this season. One of the main problems in the expansion of the oinion cultivation is the lack or seeds both in the winter and summer especially in summer. Uninterrupted supply of onion seeds and other inputs can increase the current productivity () to a satisfactory one (). Besides increasing research facilities, farmers should have access to the institutional and or infrastructural supports such as having bank loan on low interest rate, production inputs, machineries, nearby market, consultation agent for taking advice. To assure farmer’s fare price, the open market policy may be intervened for a while depending on the situation.
Research activities are also to be enforced on increasing the keeping duration of the onion to avoid post harvest loss due to rot both on transport and storage. On this context the existing storage techniques are to be evaluated and altered to make them suitable under Bangladesh’s climatic and socioeconomic condition of the farmers.
Some loss may occur while harvesting and post harvesting processing of onion. So, the harvest should be handled very carefully. For this, farmers are to be trained adopting appropriate programme especially in the major onion growing areas.
Substantial loss of due to rot, over drying and sprouting at the transient storage and transportation and marketing are reported. This can be reduced at taking good management practices such as proving the crop with balanced fertilization, weekly irrigation, spraying proper insecticides, fungicides and Maleic hydrazide to increase both the yield and keeping quality of the onion bulbs. However, above all the environmental pollution and public health situation have also to be considered while applying pesticides.
Picture below: Over drying and sprouting of onion bulb. Source: dreamstime.com (my file: onion drying and sprouting dry)
High labour cost is an added extra items in the onion production. Due to the developmental activities agricultural labourers are very expensive that boosts per unit product costs. The only alternative lies in using mechanized technique especially seedling transplanting, weeding and harvesting which incurs the major cost items. Even intercropping or relay cropping has not been adopted extensively due to the lack of machineries which not only to be imported, but also made suitable keeping pace with the Bangladesh’s socio-economic, soil and climatic condition.
The deficit of onion is generally met up importing onion from abroad and on this matter we should be more careful as this subject is very sensitive regarding its import time, supply time in the market, outlet positions for sell. To avoid public chaos, the relevant parties or government should be vigilant on monitoring the existing storage status of the onion in much advance of its imports, distribution and marketing system along with its price. Normally onion crisis starts from the month of September and goes on more or less up to the full harvest of new crop in the month of April. The early harvest of onion is done in the month of December which supply onion in the market on a limited scale. But it exerts an negative impact on the total onion production as the early harvest onion bulbs remain immature weighing much lesser compared to the fully matured one. This early harvest caused a much reduction in the national production. So import and management should be optimized based on this situations. Another fact while importing onion from abroad should carefully attended especially the quality of the bulbs based on the duration. During this recent crisis, it was seen that onion imported from Myanmar rot or sprouted even while in the sacks (picture below) which caused severe weight loss that bounded the businessmen to increase the market price to compensate the loss.
Picture below: Sprouting of the imported onion from Mayanmar in the sack. Source: Facebook.
It is admissible by the all that our farmers are skilled and grow much even exceeding the target of the government for most of the cases with all the crops. On this context, there must be enough storage facilities so as to they can keep their products in safe. For doing this, scientific storage system with minimum cost can be innovated by doing research. Bangladeshi farmers do not afford storing their products for long time as they grow crops either borrowing money from government or local rich people. So, for paying the borrowed money they becomes bound to sell their crop at the existing price that they have in the local market. Moreover they do not have capacity to carry those to other big market because of expensive transportation system where they could find a better market at a higher price. Further, as a buffer, the government is to increase both the capacity and number of its current regional storage. For this private partnership programme may be enforced encouraging entrepreneurship so that farmers themselves can use these on rent basis.
Although not a dilemma but an dishonest motive of the businessmen exists in our country that they import agricultural commodities and supply those in the market at the time when farmers are going to harvest their crops. As a result, due to the supply of businessmen’s product as well those of the farmers harvest, supply of the products in the market becomes much as needed by the consumers. This causes to push the market price at the bottom. However, farmers grow their produce using credits from a person or private financial organization at a higher interest and condition of receiving the credits is to to repay this credit just after harvest. So in consequence, farmers become bound to sell their produce at the low market price which are even much lesser compared to their production costs. Such situation was observed in some past year’s onion season when due to a favourable weather conditions, farmers of Bangladesh got bumper yields but low market price suffered them much incurring a great loss.
Even after the ongoing crisis of onion in Bangladesh the Indian government has lifted its ban on onion export at the extreme end of the February 2020 when the farmers of both the countries are harvesting their new crop. India declared this so as to avoid loss of its onion farmers as the farmers have had a bumper production this year. This ‘export ban lifting’ encouraged Bangladeshi businessmen to import onion from India to add to those of the inland’s farmers product in the market. Even in Bangladesh, farmers are also harvesting onions from their fields and already there has been reports by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh that the onion farmers are going to face a drastic decline in the onion market (The Daily Star, March 01, 2020; picture below).
Taking the advantage of low price and poor sale, a wholesaler makes a good stock at his warehouse of the market to sell it at higher rates later. In Bangladesh 90 percent of the small and medium growers sell their produce during the peak harvesting season at low prices (Daily Star, May 6, 2013; Nov 25, 2019). During 2018 onion season farmers had to sell their produce for taka 15-18 a kilogram which was much below the production costs of Taka 22-24 (Daily Star Nov 25, 2019). This only be controlled monitoring the import time if the products that may coincide or overlap with the time of harvest season of the farmers product. In Bangladesh farmers are the weak professional group who has no active organization to fight for achieving their rights themselves. Even to avoid such price hikes or public dissatisfaction on the agricultural commodities, the balance and coordination of the relevant organizations or parties becomes very helpful.
The low price during onion harvest time when the farmers suffer most with a drastic loss may be avoided giving farmers easy credits so that they can store their harvest at least for two months in their own storage. This will also help the government to solve the lack of enough structured storage facility that in tern help stabilize the onion market.
To avoid crisis of import especially like ones of the refusal to export by India, the deal should also be made by different onion exporting countries. Government of Bangladesh took initiatives to import onion on emergency basis during this year’s onion crisis from some other countries besides India such as Myanmar, Egypt, Turkey, China etc. Initiative may be taken to make deals with these countries exploring some extra countries for import so that Bangladesh can assure its import onion in advance of appearing the deficit in the market. To avoid loss of the farmers, the coordination of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce so as to discourage imports of crops during harvesting seasons slapping import duty in a way that makes foreign purchase expensive and farmers get more price of their produce.
In Bangladesh government has introduced incentives for farmers in terms of subsidies in input price, credit at low interest rates and also buying farmers’ produce at higher price to confirm minimum support price. However, those are not enough in relation to the farmers’ number and this matters need to be attended to solve such unexpected situation. To stabilize market the authority may take necessary attempt to maintain price volatility, sub-optimal competition in the onion market.
To assure both consumers’ and farmers’ interest besides giving logistic supports to farmers, the government must control its import including time to time change of import duties so that farmers’ and consumers’ interest may not be hampered. Government may also fix produce price based on the cost of production and to execute this to monitor market and fix or alter import duties to control the market price. While importing onion, the bulb quality especially importing immature bulb which dries up reducing the bulb weight along with undertaking rapid rot. Sometimes such happens that imported onion had underwent a great loss due to rot owing to the delay in clearance from inland ports. The resultant effect is on the market price which the businessmen have to raise to compensate their delay based losses.
Again, to assure increased supply of onion in the market and to guarantee onion self sufficiency in Bangladesh, farmers must be encouraged to grow it giving them on time input supply and assuring its fair market price during the harvest time.
Requested to make comments and suggesting improvement
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