Sujanagar Correspondent
New onions have started coming to various local markets in Sujanagar Upazila of Pabna, as it is the second largest onion producer of the country and largest onion producer of the northern region.
However, the new onions have already created a price drop in the market and farmers of the area are worried about not getting the fare price of the onion, produced by them.
Inspecting various local markets in Sujanagar it was found that each mound of onion is being sold at Tk 800 to 900 this week, whereas the prices were almost double in the previous week. Farmers coming to the markets expressed their concern over the falling price of the onion at the time.
Sujanagar Upazila office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) informed that 16,700 hectors of farmlands were brought under onion farming this season and farmers got a yield of 70-80 mounds per Bigha due to favourable weather.
Farmer Reja Mandal of Durgapur village who came to Pouro Hat to sell onion said that farmers of the area are currently facing losses as they cannot get back their original investments. To cover up the losses, he urged authoritities to set up the base price of onion at Tk 1,300 at the lowest.
Kamrujjaman, another farmer of the upazila said that farmers in the area are not achieving any profit from onion farming due to the lower prices.
Onion farmers of Sujanagar said that bumper yield was achieved at Gajnar Beel area and traders from across the country are coming to local Pouro Hat to buy onions at low price.
Founding President of Sujanagar Press Club, Abdus Shukur said that, there are no cold storage in the area, so storing onion becomes a huge hassle for the farmers.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Moynul Haque stated that the prices of onion will gradually go down as onions of the new season have already started swarming the local markets.
