RANGPUR, Feb 7, 2025 (BSS) – Enthusiastic farmers are expecting a bumper onion output after exceeding its farming target in Rangpur agricultural region this season as harvest of its early variety continues with excellent yield rate.
 
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said farmers are currently harvesting the tuber and early varieties of onion to reap better profits as transplantation of onion seedlings is nearing completion in the region.
 
Considering the growing demand for onion, the DAE has set an all-time record target of producing 1,21,151 tonnes of onion from 10,149 hectares of land for all five districts in the region in the current 2024-2025 Rabi season.
 
“However, farmers have already cultivated onion in 10,195 hectares of land, 0.45 percent against the fixed farming target for the region,” said Acting Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Afzal Hossain.
 
During the last (2023-2024) Rabi season, farmers produced 1,18,491 tonnes of onion from 10,006 hectares of land against the fixed target of producing 1,13,976 tonnes of onion from 9,755 hectares of land in the region.
 
“Meanwhile, farmers have already harvested the early varieties of onion in 1,802 hectares of land producing 22,178 tonnes of onion with an average yield rate of 12.31 tonnes per hectare of land,” Hossain said.
 
Farmers are cultivating onion on more land after getting lucrative prices of the essential spicy commodity and the government has provided free onion seeds and fertilisers as incentives to small and marginal farmers to further increase onion production.
   
Talking to BSS, farmers Mubarak Hossain, Manik Mian, Ariful Haque and Mohammad Nuruzzaman of different villages in Rangpur Sadar upazila said they are now harvesting the early varieties of onion and also continuing transplantation of onion seedlings.
 
Vegetable trader Hafizur Rahman at Rangpur City Bazar today told BSS that the market price of onion has come down to Taka 40 per kg after the appearance of plenty of the newly harvested onions in local markets.
 
Onions were being sold at rates between Taka 95-115 per kg in local markets last October in the Rangpur region like elsewhere in the country.
 
Later, onion prices started coming down from mid-December with the appearance of newly harvested tuber varieties of local onions in local markets.
 
“Newly harvested onions were being sold at rates between Taka 70 and Taka 72 per kilogram from mid-December and the prices now came down to Taka 40 per kg in local markets,” Rahman added.
 
Deputy Director at Burirhat Horticulture Centre in Rangpur of the DAE Agriculturist Dr Md Abu Sayem said onion production continues increasing as farmers are cultivating the crop adopting latest technologies and proper crop diversification in the northern region.
 
“The DAE, Spices Research Institutes and other agriculture related research institutions and organizations are working to further increase onion production for meeting local demand and attain self-reliance of the spicy commodity,” he added.