Increase local onion production

Bangladesh has experienced onion crises for three successive years. On both occasions, price hike of the essential spice was triggered by neighbouring India's decision to ban export of the item. With the news of Indian onion export ban, the price of the product has recently doubled. According to the ministry of commerce, there is no shortage of onion in the market. Still, the government is struggling to cool off its price. Bangladesh is the largest onion importer in the world. Whenever India bans onion export, we have to face an exorbitant hike of onion prices. This calls for attaining self-sufficiency in onion production so that there is no domestic shortfall. The government should emphasise increasing domestic onion production instead of depending on imports.
Now, the question is, why can't Bangladeshi farmers double annual onion output to 2.5 million tons or so, which is enough for meeting the demand? Once local farmers would produce adequate onion, price would go down and the next season the growers would cultivate other crops. So, there should be a proper estimate about demand and possible output. Secondly, growers should be provided with a minimum price and profitability as an incentive to grow onion. In fact, the authorities concerned should guide farmers to produce crops and non-crop items in proportion to demand. We must remember that there is no alternative to increasing domestic onion production.

Ashikujaman Syed, Research Assistant,
Bioinformatics Research Lab,
Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID)
[email protected]