DESPITE government’s measures to rein the market, onion prices have gone beyond the general people’s reach as per kg of this cooking ingredient was sold at Tk 150 at Kitchen markets in the capital on Thursday.
Many people alleged that the prices are soaring as the wholesalers jacked up the prices despite having no shortage of onion supply due to recent imports of the ingredient. However, traders said that the imported onion cannot help bring back normalcy in the market as the import cost except from India is very expensive.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said there is no quick fix to this problem within a week. The onion prices rose many times in the past due to the absence of proper and long-term strategies. To maintain a long-term stability in the market, dependency on import will have to be reduced by increasing the domestic production of onion. But the country at present has to import a large quantity from India and other countries to meet the demand for domestic consumption.
The domestic production can be increased in two ways — increasing acreage by ensuring a fair price of farmers and mounting yield. An initiative needs to be taken to increase productivity by providing the farmers with high-yielding onion seeds, fertilizers, and loans.
Experts said that onion prices in India are very low in its peak season because of the high productivity. As there is no duty on onion import, it can be imported from India at a lower price during that time.
Import duty will have to be imposed during the peak season in Bangladesh so that the county’s farmers get a fair price of their onions. The import tariff has to be withdrawn at the end of the season so the traders can import the variety at low costs to bring stability in the market. The authority should take initiatives to increase the production and preservation period of onion.
