Bumper onion yield likely at Godagari

RAJSHAHI, Jan 17: The farmers here are expecting a bumper production of onion this year due to favourable weather.
Now, they are passing busy time in taking care of the onion fields in different areas of the upazila.
Meanwhile, onion cultivation has brought bright prospect for the farmers here as they achieved good profit by selling their produce in the last several years.
Assistant Agriculture Officer Abul Hossain of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) at Godagari upazila said, the farmers here cultivated onion in about 2,530 hectares of land this year, but last year they cultivated only 875 ha of land.
The locally-grown onion is of good quality and due to its high demand, it is sent to other districts of the country, said farmers.
While talking with The Daily Observer, Gias Uddin, an onion grower of Dewanpara union, said, "I am passing busy time in taking care of my onion fields. I have cultivated onion in 3.5 bighas of land this season. Of those, two bighas were cultivated for producing onion seed and 1.5 bighas for onion."
He further said, "Tk 15,000 is required to cultivate onion in per bigha. A farmer can grow 2.5 maunds of onion seed in the same land and can earn Tk 2 to 2.5 lakh from selling the onion of per bigha land. I hope to achieve bumper onion seed yield this year like the previous years. Besides, I got market price last year."
Moshiur Rahman and Alim Hossain, farmers of Vagalipara area in the upazila said, "We have cultivated onion in five-bigha land this year. The plants have grown well, and we are expecting a bumper output with fair price this year."
A farmer can grow 50 maunds of onion worth about Tk 2,800 in per bigha land, they added.  
Agriculture Officer of Dewanpara Union Block Shahidul Islam said, "The farmers here have brought more lands under onion seed cultivation this season following the bumper production and fair market price last year. This year also they will achieve bumper production since the weather is favourable and the agriculture officials have advised the farmers about the cultivation at the right time."