St Martin's red onions disappearing due to unplanned tourism

COX'S BAZAR, Mar 21: The unique small red onion variety once ubiquitous on Saint Martin's Island, coveted for its taste and essential to local cooking, is now scarce and expensive.

The construction of luxury buildings and facilities to accommodate tourists, coupled with rampant pollutions, has decreased the production of the vegetable.

The once cultivated 15 acres of land have now been overtaken by hotels and motels, reducing the availability of the onion and pushing onion farmers to seek other professions.

According to Noor Ahmad, a former chairman of Saint Martin Union Parishad, 595 acres of cultivated land have been sold in the last two decades, with over 150 hotels and resorts being built on those lands. This has led to a decrease in the cultivation of winter vegetables, including paddy and red onion, by 77 per cent last season.

Locals said the red onion once was the main spice for cooking fish and meat at almost every household of Teknaf and Ukhiya upazilas. People used to visit their relatives and greet them with the cooking staple. Many families used to store the item.

Onion trader Abdur Razzak said those who used to produce onions have now switched to other professions due mostly to scant farmlands.

Rafiq Uddin, a resident of the island, said that red onions were available in Saint Martin's at Tk15-20 per kg even ten years ago. Now some farmers grow those on small amount of land and the prices are as high as Tk 200 per kg.

Another Saint Martin's local Abdul Malek said that many infrastructures including hotels and motels have been built rapidly on the island over the past couple of years. As a result, arable lands have decreased alarmingly.

Salim Uddin, a cottage owner of the island, said the number of tourists to St Martin's Island is increasing day by day as land prices soar.

Profits in onion cultivation are limited. Therefore, locals are rushing for tourism businesses.

Onion farmer Shafiq Ahmed said, "I used to take lands on lease from other people and cultivate onions two years ago. But houses and shops have now occupied those lands."

Local resident Abul Kashem said he heard that the seed of small onions was brought to Saint Martin Island from Indonesia around one hundred years ago. Since then, the variety has been produced here.

Saint Martin's Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Mujibur Rahman said many onion farmers have changed professions. Some are now working in hotels, while others have started tourism businesses.

Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Shahin Imran said, "Farmers are being encouraged to cultivate the traditional red onion in Saint Martin's Island. Besides, the administration is trying to stop the unplanned construction."

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