On road to autarky
High yielding summer onion production goes up to 12 tonnes per acre in Thakurgaon
A Correspondent, Thakurgaon
Bangladesh may soon attain autarky in production of onion, a largely used spice, thanks to the invention by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI). Two summer varieties of onion developed by BARI gave encouraging yields at farmers' level in Thakurgaon Sadar in the last summer season. Zakir Hossain a farmer at Arasi Postanapur village got 40 maunds of onion from 20 decimal land. He spent Tk 5000 on it and earned a profit of Tk 15000. It was a challenging job to Zakir, made possible under the supervision and assistance of Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Balal Hossain. Talking to this correspondent, Belayet said summer onion can be grown in all types of soil except in clay soil. The seed is to be sown in February-March and seedlings can be transplanted within 40-45 days. The spice can be harvested after 95 to 110 days of transplantation. The yield of summer onion is about 10 to 12 tons per hectare. One onion weighs about 250 gms. The same varieties can be cultivated in winter also. In that case, seeds should be sown in May-June and transplanted in July-August. The crop could be harvested in November. BARI onion is also pest-resistant. But excessive rainfall and fog might damage the crop. Normally onion is grown in the country in winter, which leaves a large shortfall in the annual demand, now met by imports from India and Burma. Md Mohasin Ali, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Jhakurgaon, said BARI invented the two varieties of summer onion-- BARI Onion 2 and BARI Onion 3-- at its Spice Research Centre at Shibganj Bogra in 2000. After successful trail production, these have been distributed at farmers level in Thakurgaon, Ponchagarh, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Noagaon and Chapainawabganj districts, he said. The crop was grown at farmers' level in last summer for the first time, he said.
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