Nearly 70% of onion seeds in the country are produced in Faridpur district.
Even though all nine upazilas produce the seeds, Ambikapur and Ishangopalpur unions account for nearly 50% of the produce.
This season, onion seeds have been cultivated on over 1700 hectares of land, according to the Faridpur Department of Agricultural Extension.
Over 850 metric tonnes of onion seeds with a market value of Tk250 crore will be produced in this region, according to Deputy Director Hazrat Ali.
Farmers start cultivating onion seeds from December or January and by March or April, the flowers mature into black seeds.
Due to the good prices and profits farmers have received over the last few years, the seeds have become known in the area as “Kaloshona” or black gold.
Intiaz Molla, an onion seed farmer at Faridpur Sadar, said that a good harvest is expected due to favorable weather conditions.
“Around five maunds (1 maund=37-40kg) will be produced on every three bigha of land,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
It costs a farmer around Tk100,000 to cultivate onion seeds over three bighas of land.
Given that last year each maund was priced at Tk100,000, farmers are hopeful of good profits per bigha of land this year.
Fahim Ahmed, a farmer at Ambikapur village, says that he expects a harvest of around 10 maund on 2.5 bigha of land.
Meanwhile, Lovely and Imtiaz, a farmer couple, complained that while a majority of onion seeds is supplied from this region, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) does not source seeds from all farmers.
Since the government needs seeds, why not take them from everyone? They asked.
On the other hand, another farmer, Shafiqul Islam, who is also equally hopeful of a booming harvest, alleged that the banks only give loans to landowners, and people like him have to resort to borrowing from NGOs on high interest.
Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarker said that onion seed farming has created jobs for many youths who previously were unemployed.
He noted that farmers in Faridpur Sadar, Bhanga, Nagarkanda, Sadarpur and Saltha upazila are becoming economically solvent.
