State to take up cultivation of onion on 1800 acres during Kharif season

KOLKATA: The state government has decided to take up large-scale cultivation of onion during Kharif season on 1800 acres spanned across nine districts in the state. The aim is to cut down import of the cash crop and gradually move towards self-sufficiency in onion cultivation.

The state has to import over 6 lakh metric tonnes of onion annually to cater to its annual demand of 13 lakh metric tonnes. In the fiscal 2019-20, the state grew 6.70 lakh metric tonnes on 37400 hectares.

As the cultivation of onion is less during the Kharif season, the price often soars up particularly during the winter months when the state has to depend mainly on imports.

"We will be procuring seeds of the Agrifound Dark Red variety onion from Ahmednagar and start large scale cultivation during the Kharif season. There is non-availability of this particular seed variety in the eastern region," Subrata Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary of the state Food Processing & Horticulture department said.

The official added that cultivation will be taken up in Hooghly, North 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, West Midanpore and Malda as the climate and soil conditions are suitable.

The state had achieved success last year by cultivating Agrifound Red Variety onion on a pilot basis at its horticulture farm at Taldangra in Bankura. As per estimates, 25 quintals of onion can be produced on 1 acre. Hence, 1800 acres have the potential of producing 45000 quintals.

"Onion is a cash crop and if farmers are encouraged to take up its cultivation as an alternative to paddy it will be a profitable option for them," Subhasis Batabyal, Chairman of West Bengal Comprehensive Area Development Corporation, Bankura said.

State Horticulture minister Subrata Saha has directed Batabyal to start training farmers about this in Murshidabad and Bankura. "The soil and climatic condition of Murshidabad is best suited for this variety of onion cultivation," added Batabyal.

Presently, the state is much dependent on the Sukhsagar variety that is cultivated during winter and gives its yield during summer.

In 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee government assumed power for the first time in the state, the state's onion produce catered only to 20 per cent of the state's demand.

Now, the state is able to meet nearly 55 per cent of the demand and the rest needs to be imported from Nashik, parts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Karnataka and

Bihar.