Onion traders and growers have given contradictory comments over the price hike of onions in Magura.
Farmers and retailers alleged that middlemen have been increasing the price illegally while wholesalers claimed that the price has soared due to price hike of in India as onion traders depend on Indian onions for domestic demand.
Osman Goni, a farmer of village Katakhali under Magura sadar, said they have been selling a kilogram of onions to the wholesalers at Tk40, while retailers sell onions at Tk75 per kilogram.
Abu Hanif, a wholesaler of Magura, claimed that: “the price of onions has soared immensely in India, and since we have to depend on imported onions from India, we do not have any choice but to increase the price.”
Kabiar Rahman, an economics teacher of Magura Adarsha College, said though there has been an adequate supply of onions in the local market; middlemen have been exploiting consumers by making a syndicate.
Another teacher Amrul Hoque of Binodpur Degree College said there is no reason to raise the price of onions in Magura as a bumper production of the vegetable has been achieved in the district this season.
He added that traders have been practicing unfair methods to make money by fabricating a false onion crisis, which in turn helps them justify the increasing price.
Proper monitoring is needed by government agencies to get rid of the price hike, he added.
Md Jakir Hossen, district marketing officer of Magura, admitted that the price of onions has registered a sharp increase, while he denied the allegations of improper monitoring.
Documents from Magura’s Agriculture Extension Department show that about 4,530 hectares of land was bought for onion cultivation in the district this year, and a bumper production has been achieved with 4,971 metric tonnes of onions.
Despite the bumper production, price of onions is on rise in the district. Onions are being sold at
Tk75 per kg, while the price of the vegetable was only Tk40 during Ramadan.
