MYMENSINGH, May 2, 2024 (BSS) - Agriculture Minister Mohammed Abdus Shahid today said despite surplus production of onions in the country, the government has to import onions due to lack of its adequate storage facilities only.

"Currently the country produces about 3.5 million tonnes of onion annually, which is more than the demand . . . But as onions are highly perishable and due to lack of storage, the demand has to meet by importing," the minister said while opening onion storage and processing center built by the Netherlands government at Bharadoba in Bhaluka upazila here.

The warehouse was built in collaboration with the country's giant Agro Processing Netherlands having the capacity of 400 metric tonnes of products.

He said almost every year the authorities concerned have to face problems with onions and therefore action plans are being implemented to achieve self-sufficiency in onion.

The agriculture minister, however, said the onion production has increased by one million tonnes in the last two years which is more enough than that of existing demand in Bangladesh.

Abdus Shahid said the government is providing necessary support to farmers, including free and subsidized seeds with fertilizers to increase production while special emphasis is being put on reducing wastage or post-harvest losses as 20-30% of the crop is lost or wasted after harvesting.
 
Highly appreciating the Netherland government for this initiative, the minister said such onion storage will be very beneficial for both the farmers and consumers of Bangladesh.

He called upon the private entrepreneurs of both the Netherlands and Bangladesh to invest in the construction of more onion storehouses so that farmers can store onions in the days to come.
 
Ambassador of the Netherlands in Dhaka Irma van Duren, Additional Secretary Malay Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Sheikh Md Bakhtiar and Managing Director of Giant Agro Processing Feroz Hasan, among others, also spoke.