Charbhadrasan (Faridpur) Correspondent :
In Charbhadrasan Upazila of Faridpur, farmers are fearing loss due to delay in onion-garlic cultivation due to natural calamity heavy rains this year. Before the beginning of the current rabi season, many farmers in the region could not cultivate the land and plant seeds on time due to the delay in the water accumulated in the fields due to heavy rains this year.
Especially, due to the delay in water coming down from the arable land in low-lying areas, they could not plant onion and garlic on time, so they will be late to harvest this year. If the crop is not brought home on time, the chances of not getting a fair price are high, the farmers fear.
On the surface, a few fields of Madhu Sikdar’s Dongi in North Alam Nagar of Sadar Union are seen to be busy cultivating garlic. Along with men, women also help in sowing garlic seeds. Shahid Molla (52), a resident of that village, talked to AKM Manjurul Haque (55), and it is known that they grow onions and garlic every year. This year, due to delay in rain and monsoon water coming down from the land in their area including some neighboring areas, they have delayed onion-garlic cultivation.
They said this year about 70/75 thousand rupees are spent on 52 percent of one bigha land for garlic cultivation till land preparation, seed, labor, fertilizer, water and tilling. If the yield is good, 35/40 maunds of garlic are available per bigha. Apart from this, the consumption of raw onion cultivation is about one lakh rupees per bigha. If the yield is good, it is 85/90 onions per bigha. They said that due to the late planting this year, there is a possibility of not yielding as expected and they are afraid of facing losses if the market price is not good.
According to Upazila Agriculture Office sources, Murikatha onion cultivation is more suitable in fertile alluvial land of Padma here. Every year in the month of Kartika, farmers in this region grow onion and garlic. Poush, Magh and Falgun are the three months of onion-garlic sales season. In Atra Upazila, 440 hectares (52 percent of 2 thousand one hundred and fifteen bighas) of land has been planted with onion. Garlic is cultivated in 5 hectares (ongoing) land.
Out of this, raw onions have been planted in 135 hectares in Charbhadrasan Sadar Union, 205 hectares in Gazirte, 70 hectares in Char Harirampur and 30 hectares in Char Jhaukanda.
On Monday (December 4), upazila agriculture officer Muhammad Tofajjal Hossain said that farmers are planting onions late in this region even though they are planting onion and garlic at the same time. This year, there has been a delay in the cultivation of Poaz garlic due to monsoon and rainwater flooding in some low-lying areas of this upazila.
He said that if the demand is less than the production, then the market price of onion is low. This agricultural officer thinks that the possibility of economic loss due to late onion-garlic cultivation is very low if the farmers’ crops are not damaged by natural calamities.
