The Murikata variety of onions had an excellent output this year. But due to poor pricing, farmers weren’t helping much. Farmers use Hali onions in this case. However, the ‘agar mora’ illness has lately surfaced in onion farms. Farmers fear crop failure and significant losses in this scenario.

In all three of Pabna’s upazilas—Bera, Santhia, and Sujanagar—which are among the nation’s top onion-producing regions, agar mora disease has recently been observed in onion plants. This disease is causing the trees to dry out from the agar. Farmers anticipate that this will eventually result in a lower onion output.

Onion farming can be performed 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.

Onions are often grown using the Hali method in the greatest quantity. However, a disease known as “sore on the stem” has ravaged the onion crops grown this year utilising the Hali method. Farmers claim that by selling the sliced onions at a low price, they have lost a lot of money. Furthermore, a “sore on the stem” is the cut onion sickness.
The local agricultural agency, meanwhile, has attributed the onion tops’ drying to the weather.

The local agricultural office claims that Sujanagar is the upazila that produces the most onions in the whole country. Second position goes to Santhia Upazila. This time, 5,100 hectares of land in Bera, 16,700 hectares in Santhia, and 19,280 hectares in Sujanagar have been planted with onions. For ten to twelve days, onions of the hali kind have started arriving at the markets in the three upazilas.

Cut onion losses
This time, farmers claimed an excellent crop of chopped onions. However, low pricing have caused them to lose money. For the chopped onions, they hoped to receive a fair price. However, the cut onions are also not selling well; in fact, because of the aga mora disease, the onion farms have not produced many onion bulbs. The yield can drop in this case.

several of Pabna farmers that the cost of producing one kilogramme of chopped onions is roughly 50 taka. Additionally, fresh onions cost roughly 45 taka. However, the local agricultural office’s information indicates that the cost of producing fresh onions is 38 taka, while that of chopped onions is 41 taka. In the wholesale market, fresh onions are sold for 20 to 25 taka per kg, whereas sliced onions are only sold for 13 to 18 taka per kg.

Farmers are losing between 40,000 and 50,000 taka per bigha in this scenario. And they think the loss may rise even more if aga mora illness reduces the yield of fresh onions.
Following the rain, tree tops are decaying.

This reporter went to a number of fields in the villages of Baya, Karamja, and Punduria in the Santhia upazila and Barashila, Chakla, and Nalbhanga in the Bera upazila. The majority of the onion plants’ heads in the fields were found to have dried out and become crimson. Nearly half of the onion plants had dried up in some farms. Additionally, the onions have shrunk in size.
Ten to twelve growers of onions reported that the crop was growing without any issues at the start of the growing season. However, the heads began to die as the plants developed. They told the local agricultural office officials about the issue, but they were unable to offer a solution.

A few days ago, there was some light rain, according to Saidul Islam, a farmer from Barashila village in Bera upazila. The plants’ tops have been turning brown ever since. I’ve administered medication to the plants twice so far. However, it is completely failing. This year, Saidul had grown roughly 60 maunds of onions on a single bigha of land. He questions whether the 30-maund final yield can be sustained, though.

According to Sirajul Islam, a farmer from Punduria village in Santhia upazila, “I have grown onions on a bit more acreage this year after noticing the high cost last year. However, the market does not have the price of onions. In addition, the apical dieback disease is causing onion farms to die. Onion farming is losing a lot of money this time.
It is quite hot during the day and chilly at night, and fog is starting to form in the morning, explains Sanjib Kumar Goswami, the Agriculture Officer for Santhia Upazila. The temperature differential between day and night in this scenario can be as much as 10 degrees. This issue with the young onion plants is the main cause of this.

Sanjib Kumar stated that since the onion bulbs have already gotten rather big, farmers shouldn’t be alarmed by this. And the majority of the onions will be up in a month. Additionally, growers are being encouraged to apply a small amount of chemical insecticides are used to keep the plant tops from drying up.