Onion price has fallen drastically at the farm level as wholesalers took advantage of the market situation where the product is available in large quantities due to the peak harvest season and the imports.
Market insiders said the decline in onion price at the growers’ end is likely to cause a drop in retail prices within a couple of days.

Despite the gleaming hope of a relief at the consumer level, people involved in the sector highlighted the farmers’ woes caused by the price drop, saying that it will discourage onion cultivation in future.

Production cost of onion was Tk1,360 per maund or Tk34 per kg, but farmers sold it at Tk1,100-1,200 per maund (40kg) or  Tk27.5 to Tk30 per kg on Tuesday. Growers sold the product at Tk1,400-1,500 per maund a week ago at different onion-producing hubs in the country, according to local sources.

The price of the onion was Tk1,400 to Tk1,800 per maund at the growers’ end on 18 March and Tk2,800 to Tk3,200 per maund on 14 March this year, said sources.

According to market insiders, farmers in Faridpur, Rajbari, Kushtia, Pabna, Magura, Jhenaidah, Meherpur, Naogaon, Rajshahi and some other onion-producing hubs have started harvesting seasonal onions. They have been bringing in huge volumes of onion to the local bazaars in the last few days to earn some money by selling their crops ahead of Eid.

Sensing the farmers’ rush for a profit, and having access to the imports of onion, unscrupulous wholesalers drove down the prices unfairly to buy and hoard the product at a cheap rate now and make excessive profit by selling it at high prices later when the supply is low, said farmers as well as a number of traders.

Importing onion during the peak harvesting period hinders the path of getting a handsome profit for farmers, said Bakter Khan, an onion farmer and seed producer in Ambikapur, Faridpur.
“If such a situation continues and farmers face losses after selling onion, then they will not cultivate the crop anymore,” he added.

When the price increased in the market, everyone raised their voices against it but when farmers faced losses no one noticed their hardships,” said the onion farmer.

Despite the drastic fall of onion price at the local farmers’ end, the product’s price has not declined at the retail level in Dhaka city yet. The retail price of onion was Tk50 per kg on Wednesday at the retail market in the capital while it was Tk50-60 per kg on Friday.

Besides, the government on Wednesday started selling onions imported from India at Tk40 a kg through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) trucks in Dhaka and Chattogram cities.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) estimated that when the production cost of onion is Tk34 per kg, its logical price at the growers' end would be Tk44.30 per kg, at the wholesale level Tk53.20 per kg, and the retail level Tk65.40 per kg.

Agro-economist and researcher Dr Jahangir Alam Khan told the Daily Sun that if the farmers do not get a return against their production cost, then they will not cultivate onions next year.
The government should create a win-win situation for the farmers and the consumers during the harvesting period, he said.

Onion import must be banned during peak harvesting time in April and May to ensure that farmers get a good price, added the economist.

Tajul Islam Patwary, director (monitoring wing) of the DAE, told the Daily Sun that peak onion harvest season is continuing and around 51% of harvesting of onion was finished by 2 April.
This year the country aimed to produce 36.73 lakh tonnes of onion. The actual production may exceed the target as farmers cultivated onion on more land than that was expected, he said.