AN OVERVIEW OF STUDIES ON SUMMER ONION PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Onion (Allium cepa), a quintessential spices and vegetable is grown chiefly as a winter crop around the world. This herbaceous plant of (Amaryllidaceae) family is cultivated mainly for its bulb. Onion ranks second in terms of world production, among the fifteen vegetable specified (FAO). In Bangladesh it ranks 1st in terms of production and consumption among the spice crops having produced 17.04 lakh MT of onion from 4.19 lakh acres of land (BBS, 2015). Bangladesh is ranked 9th among the onion producing countries having an average yield far below 11 t/ha as compared to the world average of 19.32 t/ha. The demand for onions in Bangladesh is growing steadily in conjunction with the population growth and rising per capita income. Severe scarcity of onion bulbs is seen from August to March in the vegetable markets which are fulfilled by import mainly from neighbor countries. As we have seen onion prices suddenly increased in Bangladesh in October last year following a ban imposed by India on export of onion on September. Since then, the onion price hike continued in local market unabated and the price had reached as much as Tk. 250-250 per kg in November. However, the price started to decline in Bangladesh after new crop hit the market in January and the price fell drastically after New Delhi announced lifting of export ban. This situation opens our eyes towards the fact that how much we are lagging as a country in terms of onion production. To match this overwhelming supply and demand gap and to mitigate annual import cost, instigating summer onion production among farmers can become a major landmark in overall onion production and supply chain. Summer onion cultivation can be a new way to increase the onion production in Bangladesh and make it available throughout the year. Consequently, demand of onion will be met up and employment opportunity will be created.