Mahbub Piyal, Faridpur

Faridpur's famous onion seeds have been cultivated in Diganta Jora field. Farmers are happy with the good production this year. Faridpur district is at the top of the country in onion seed production. The onion seeds produced in this district are meeting the seed demand of 20 districts of the country.

Onion seeds have been cultivated in field after field in Faridpur. 50 percent of the country's total seed demand for onion cultivation is produced in Faridpur. Although it was once completely dependent on imports, now the amount of imports has decreased due to the increase in onion seed cultivation in the country. If onion seed cultivation in our country is increased further, there will be no need to send these seeds to the market, said the Faridpur Sadar Upazila Agriculture Office. They said that onion seeds have been cultivated on 355 hectares of land in Sadar Upazila this year. From this, 262 metric tons of onion seeds can be obtained.

The white onion stalk dries out and produces black seeds or grains, whose market price is like gold. That is why it is called "black gold". This year, farmers are smiling happily with onion seeds, which are known as "black gold". In onion seed cultivation, one has to be as careful as raising a small child. If there is any carelessness, the yield is ruined. Onion seed cultivation starts in the month of Agrahayan. The flowers ripen in the month of Chaitra. The seeds of this flower will start ripening after a few days.

Faridpur district consists of a total of 9 upazilas. Onion seeds are produced more or less in all upazilas. However, Ambikapur and Ishan Gopalpur unions in Sadar produce 50 percent of the seeds in the district. Apart from this, Sadarpur, Bhanga, Nagarkanda, Saltha and Sadar upazilas in Faridpur are quite famous for onion seed cultivation. According to the District Agriculture Office, onion seeds have been cultivated on 18,054 hectares of land this year. The Agriculture Office expects 964 metric tons of seeds to be produced from this. Farmers are counting the days with the hope that the weather will be favorable this year, which will lead to a bumper yield of onion seeds.

Now the farmers are busy pollinating the flowers. The farmer is Jamal Tallukder. He is a farmer from Gobindapur village of Ambikapur union in Faridpur Sadar upazila. He has been cultivating this black gold for about 20 years. His father and uncle also used to cultivate onion seeds in this area. He said that there has been a great yield. He said that due to the use of poison in onion seeds, bees do not come for pollination. Due to this, the flowers do not get pollinated. As a result, the yield has not been that much in the past years. We have suffered losses. He said that since last year, we have been pollinating the flowers by hand.

The farmer pollinates the pollen of one flower with the pollen of another flower by rubbing his palm. This improves the yield. Although it costs extra to use in the field. Still, we benefit because the yield is good. He said, this year's yield has been very good.

This year's weather is very effective for onion flowers. This year's flower stalks have also grown. Jamal Talukder has cultivated onion seeds on 6 acres of land this year. He has spent 1 lakh taka per acre of cultivation. Now he has to spend about 20 thousand taka extra on pollination by farmers. This pollination used to depend on nature. Many people use poison to eat it. As a result, bees or any other insect no longer come to eat onions to collect honey.

About 50 farmers including national award-winning farmers Shahida Begum, Jahangir Hossain, Intaz Mollah, Babu Mollah, Sheikh Selim, Sheikh Habibur Rahman, Shariful Islam, and other farmers in this union are cultivating this black gold.

The best onion seed farmer and female farmer in the country is Shahida Begum of Gobindapur village of Sadar upazila of Faridpur. She has been cultivating onion seeds for more than a century and a half. She has been awarded various awards. Shahida Begum, who has set a unique example in onion seed cultivation, has named her onion seed 'Khanbeej'. She has received the 'Standard Chartered Channel I Agro Award' as the best female farmer. She has also been recognized as a contracted farmer of Faridpur Agricultural Extension BADC. Shahida Begum said, one-fourth of the country's total onion seed requirement is produced from my land. Due to the absence of bees, we have to spend extra on pollination. She said that this year's onion seed has been good.

Local farmer Samad Talukder said, 'Importing onion seeds from India will definitely cause losses. Because, the quality of the seeds from India is low, it does not yield good yields.' Faridpur Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Md. Anwar Hossain said, Faridpur is in a leading position in seed production. The seed demand of 20 districts of the country is met with the seeds of this district. If we can increase the cultivation of these seeds further in the future, there will be no need to import seeds from abroad. We are moving towards this goal. At the same time, we are providing all kinds of support to the farmers.

Deputy Director of the District Agricultural Extension Department, Agricultural Biologist Md. Shahaduzzaman said, onion seeds have been cultivated in 1,854 hectares of land in the district this year. Which is 34 hectares more than last year.

We are providing all kinds of support to the farmers. Due to the use of excessive pesticides, there is a problem in pollinating flowers due to the lack of bees. We are also advising the farmers on this matter.

Farmers are arranging for pollination of flowers by hand. This is increasing the yield and increasing the cost of the farmers. We are working to further increase the cultivation of onion seeds in the country.