Onion production costs have practically doubled this year thanks to the higher price of Kondo onion bulbs, which are planted in October and harvested in mid-November, according to farmers in major producing districts of Bangladesh.

Kondo onions are an early season variety of the vegetable that are grown from October to mid-November to ensure that local markets have a sufficient supply before the main crop is harvested later in March.

Besides, the farmers are having to pay considerably more for labour and leasing land while untimely rain this month is delaying cultivation in certain areas.

As such, there is no scope for onion prices to stabilise anytime soon, they said.

"Each maund [roughly 37 kilogrammes] of onion bulb currently costs up to Tk 8,000 compared to between Tk 4,000 and Tk 3,500 last year," said Md Samsul Islam, a farmer in Sujanagar upazila of Pabna.

Farmers are having to pay considerably more on labour and leasing land while untimely rain this month is delaying cultivation in certain areas

Furthermore, labour costs have risen to Tk 500 daily while it was Tk 400 previously.

Md Kamruzzaman, another farmer from the same area, said that land lease costs have also become obscenely high, with the price per bigha having reached Tk 20,000 at present compared to Tk 8,000 in 2023.

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Essentials getting further out of reach

Against this backdrop, Islam said production costs have reached above Tk 1.2 lakh per bigha at present while it was around Tk 60,000 last year.

"I cultivated the Kondo variety on three bighas last year but I could only cultivate one bigha this year due to the excessive production cost."

Shaheda Begum, a leading onion farmer in Faridpur, said the increased price for Kondo bulbs is a result of abrupt price hikes throughout the year.

Dr Md Abu Jafar Al Monsur, deputy director of monitoring at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), echoed the same.

"Onion prices were above Tk 3,000 per maund for most of this year. So, the prices of onion bulbs are high as well," he said.

According to DAE data, about 2.665 lakh hectares of land were brought under cultivation to produce 39.112 lakh tonnes of onion in fiscal year 2023-24.

Meanwhile, the cultivation target has been fixed at 2.602 lakh hectares to produce 39.663 lakh tonnes of onion in the upcoming season of fiscal 2024-25.

"We are expecting high yields this year. Last year, we got 14.68 tonnes of onion from each hectare. Now, we want to get 15.24 tonnes from each hectare," Monsur said.

However, during a recent visit to the two biggest onion producing districts -- Pabna and Faridpur -- it was found that most farmers had delayed cultivation due to poor weather.

Just 2,000 of the 8,500 hectares of land in Pabna meant for growing onion was brought under cultivation as of October 25 this year, said Md Ashikur Rahman, sub-assistant agriculture officer of the Pabna DAE.

Previously, almost 50 percent of the cultivation was complete halfway through the month, he added.

Md Shahaduzzaman, deputy director of the Faridpur DAE, said onion cultivation has similarly slowed in his district due to rain.

"When farmers started onion cultivation in mid-October, bad weather and rain hampered their efforts. Now though, the local farmers are busy cultivating onion," he added.

As such, the DAE officials informed that cultivation of the Kondo variety has been delayed on average by one to two weeks for bad weather.

They also said that the excessive production cost of the Kondo variety could influence onion seed prices in coming months.

"Each kg of onion seed was available at Tk 3,500 to Tk 4,000 a month ago. Now though, each kg of onion seed is selling for Tk 6,000 to Tk 6,500," said Md Samsul Alam, another farmer in Sujanagar upazila.

But although onion production costs have rapidly increased, the farmers are busy cultivating the crop in full swing, he added.

A total of 52,801 hectares of land in Pabna have been brought under cultivation to produce 7.82 lakh tonnes of onion this year, according to sources at the Pabna DAE.

But as cultivation costs have increased, the price of onion will also be higher in the upcoming season, farmers said.