Agriculture Minister Md Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday inaugurated a model house for onion preservation and expressed hope that its successful storage will address the instability and crisis of onions in Bangladesh.
“Although the country produces an excess amount of onions, one-third of it goes to waste, leading to onion shortage, abnormal prices and the need for import from neighbouring India; and sometimes India bans export, so we are emphasizing onion preservation to tackle these challenges,” UNB quoted him as saying.
The inauguration ceremony was held in Purba Bangram under Santhia upazila, Pabna, where the Department of Agriculture Marketing had built the model onion and garlic storage house.
The minister highlighted the perishable nature of onions, which makes them difficult to store and forces farmers to sell them at low prices. Towards the end of the season, importers, traders and syndicates gain control of the onion market, said Razzaque.
To address this issue, the experimental onion storage facility was launched with the capacity to store onions for 4-5 months, he said.
The minister expressed optimism that this initiative would eliminate the onion shortage and potentially enable onion exports, reducing the need for imports.
Regarding the import of onions, Razzaque said a decision will be made in the best interest of all stakeholders, including farmers, producers and consumers.
He also mentioned that a letter has been sent to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources requesting consideration for subsidizing electricity used in onion preservation model houses or the agricultural sector.
Talking about sanctions, the Awami League presidium member said: "The government will not accept any attack on the sovereignty of the country and make any decision based on who is imposing sanctions... Decisions will be taken considering the interests of the 170 million population and elections will be held according to the constitution."
The onion and garlic storage model house features six exhaust fans in each room to ensure ventilation and prevent rotting. Each room, covering approximately 375 square feet, is equipped with a hygrometer to monitor temperature and humidity. The storage facility can hold 250-300 maunds (10-12 tons) of onions. The three-level storage structure is expected to last for at least 15-20 years.
These model houses are part of the Modernization of the Onion and Garlic Storage System and Development of Marketing Activities at the Farmer Level project, scheduled from July 2021 to June 2026, with a budget of Tk25 crore.
Three hundred such houses will be built in 12 upazilas of seven districts – Pabna, Dhaka, Faridpur, Rajbari, Magura, Jhenaidah, Kushtia and Rajshahi.
Eighty houses have already been constructed in the current year, each capable of storing 250-300 maunds of onion and garlic.
The country imported 665,000 tons of onion in the fiscal year 2021-22.
Our Pabna correspondent, Md Emroz Khandakar, contributed to this report