Onion being sold at Tk 8 per kg in Kushtia!

Onion is being sold at Tk 8-20 per kg at Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia district. Farmers are in trouble as the market price of onion is less than the cost of production. Being failed to sell the onion, many farmers are taking back those to their homes.

A weekly market is held on Friday morning at the Panti Degree College ground in the upazila. There some farmers said that it has cost them at Tk 20,000-30,000 to cultivate onion in every bigha of land. But these are being sold for Tk 350-800 per maund. They are not getting their production costs by selling the onion at such low prices.

Farmers claim that it is possible to meet the demand with the quantity of onion produced in the country. So the government should not import onions from India.

It was learnt from farmers, traders and members of the market management committee that the production cost of onion per kg this year is Tk 25 to Tk 35. But at present, onion is being sold at Tk 8 to Tk 20 per kg.

Farmer Kamrul Islam said, “I leased two bighas of land and cultivated onions. Fertilizer, medicine, seeds, irrigation, labor cost all together Tk 25,000. But the price is low in the market. The price is not going up.”

Chanchal Sheikh, a farmer from Kanchanpur village, said, “I brought 27 maunds of onion for sale at the market. But the price is very low. So, I am taking my onion back home. Onions have become so inedible that it is being sold at Tk 10 to 15 per kg now. So the government should stop importing onion from India.”

Upazila Agriculture Officer Raisul Islam said onions have been planted on 5,165 hectares of land in the upazila this year. Farmers spent Tk 23,000 to Tk 25,000 per maund of onion production. But the current market price of onion is much lower than that of the production cost. If this continues, the farmers will suffer miserably.