The Murikata variety of onions had an excellent output this year. However, farmers did not gain much because of the poor prices. Farmers use Hali onions in this scenario. However, the “Aga Mora” illness has lately surfaced in the onion industry. Farmers fear crop failure and significant losses in this scenario.
Onion plants in all three of Pabna’s upazilas—Bera, Santhia, and Sujanagar—which are among the nation’s most significant onion-producing regions, have recently been observed to have Aga Mora disease. The illness is causing the trees to dry out from the top. Farmers worry that this will eventually result in a lower onion output.
Onion farming can be done in two ways. The Hali technique and Murikata are the two. Onions are grown using the Murikata method from October to November, and they are harvested in-house in January or February. The Hali approach, on the other hand, involves growing onions from December to January and harvesting them indoors in March or April.
Generally, the largest amount of onions are cultivated in the Hali method. But this year, the onion fields cultivated using the Hali method have been hit by a disease called a “sore on the stem”. Farmers say that they have suffered huge losses by selling the cut onions at a low price. On top of this, the cut onion disease has come as a “sore on the stem”.
Meanwhile, the local agricultural office has blamed the weather for the drying of the onion tops.
According to the local agricultural office, Sujanagar is the largest onion-producing upazila in the country. Santhia Upazila is in second place. This time, onions have been cultivated on 19,280 hectares of land in Sujanagar, 16,700 hectares in Santhia and 5,100 hectares in Bera. Hali variety onions have been coming to the market in the three upazilas for 10-12 days.
Farmers said that the yield of cut onions has been good this time. However, they have suffered losses due to low prices. They were hoping that they might get a good price for the cut onions. But the cut onions are not getting a good price either; On the contrary, the onion bulbs have not grown much since the onion fields are affected by the aga mora disease. In this situation, the yield may decrease.
Several farmers in Pabna told Prothom Alo that the production cost of cut onions is about 50 taka per kg. And for fresh onions, the cost is about 45 taka. However, according to the information provided by the local agricultural office, the production cost of cut and fresh onions is 41 taka and 38 taka respectively. However, cut onions are being sold at only 13 to 18 taka per kg in the wholesale market and fresh onions are being sold at 20 to 25 taka per kg.
In this situation, farmers are losing 40 to 50 thousand taka per bigha. And if the yield of fresh onions decreases due to aga mora disease, they believe that the loss will increase further.
This reporter visited various fields in Barashila, Chakla, Nalbhanga of Bera upazila and Baya, Karamja, Punduria villages of Santhia upazila. It was found that the heads of most of the onion plants in the fields have dried up and turned reddish. In some fields, the onion plants have dried up almost half. The size of the onions has also become quite small.
10 to 12 onion farmers said that there was no problem with the crop at the beginning of the cultivation. But as the plants grew, the heads started dying. Even though they informed the officials of the local agricultural office, they could not provide a solution to the problem.
Saidul Islam, a farmer from Barashila village in Bera upazila, said, “There was light rain a few days ago. Since then, the tops of the plants have been turning brown. So far, I have given the plants medicine twice. But it is not working at all.” Saidul had cultivated about 60 maunds of onion in one bigha of land this year. However, he has doubts whether the final yield of 30 maunds will be sustainable.
Sirajul Islam, a farmer from Punduria village in Santhia upazila, said, “After seeing the good price of onion last year, I have cultivated onion in a little more land this year. But the price of onion is not there in the market anyway. On top of this, onion fields are dying due to the disease of agave dieback. This time, onion cultivation is suffering from losses and losses.’
Sanjib Kumar Goswami, Agriculture Officer of Santhia Upazila, said, “It is scorching hot during the day and cold at night; again, fog is appearing in the morning. In this situation, the temperature difference between day and night is up to 10 degrees. This is mainly because of this problem in the young onion plants.
Stating that there is no reason for farmers to panic, Sanjib Kumar said, “The onion bulbs have already grown quite large. And within a month, most of the onions will be up. And to prevent the tops of the plants from drying out, farmers are being advised to spray a moderate amount of chemical pesticides.
