Bulb Onion cultivation in east to curtail imports
Tanden Zangmo/Thimphu
Bulb onion cultivation in the eastern region has proven to be a successful venture and the
shops nearby has now been replaced by local variety as the mass cultivation is increasing
in the region.
As part of boosting home production of onion, the RDC Wengkhar has initiated the bulb
onion cultivation in the country few years ago and this year the mass cultivation has
initiated in Trashigang from this month.
The wetland remaining fallow during the winter months are being utilized for bulb onion
cultivation and most farmers have expressed that the paddy and onion cropping system
suits best in irrigated wetland.
According to the Research Officer with the RNR RDC Wengkhar, Kinley Tshering,
initiative of Research and Development Centre (RDC), Wengkhar under Ministry of
Agriculture and Forests have enrolled many eastern farmers in mass bulb onion
cultivation.
He said that the commercial production started to take advantage of the current scenario
in the Country where the vegetable is heavily imported although Country has huge
production potential.
The potentiality was proven by a study undertaken by RDC in the past which found out
that onion production helped farmers generate net returns of Nu. 60,000-126,450 per
acre.
He said that the intervention has also received positive interest from farmers since it can
be cultivated in wetlands after paddy is harvested, which otherwise are left fallow.
Hence, the onion cultivation goes well as relay crop in the paddy based farming system in
potential areas of the eastern region.
The intervention according to him was driven by the need to minimize not only huge
quantity of the import but also boost domestic production of vegetables in line with the
commercial vegetable production initiated by Department of Agriculture (DoA).
When asked about the advantage of onion cultivation over other cash crops, Kinley
Tshering said that growing of onion was easier than the other cash crops since the crop is
less damage by wild animals during the fallow phase and in addition the crop remain
unaffected by major pests and diseases.
“Onion cultivation is easy and entail less hard work” Kinley Tshering said.
The area under onion cultivation has increased from 19 acres to 29 acres in 2014 in
addition to increase in the number of households from 133 in 2013 to 226 households in
2014. The project initially implemented mainly in Lhuentse and Trashigang.
Similarly the production has also increased from 36.3 tonnes in 2013 to 44.6 in 2014, a
year after. Among the dzongkhags, Samdrupjongkhar has led the production producing
almost 50 percent of the total onion production. The increasing trend was also observed
in other Dzongkhags.
In the marketing front, farmers were able to sell about 50 percent of the onion they
produced in both the years bringing home a cash income of Nu.0.545 million to Nu.0.753
million in respective years.
Farmers in Samdrupjongkhar have minted the highest income in 2013 amounting to Nu.
0.256 million which Lhuentse has took over in 2014 with 0.201million income generated.
Lately Mongar too observed a drastic increase in income generated compared to the
previous season.
In addition, it is felt that no frequent intercultural operations are required except for about
2-3 weeding and irrigation during the entire season and can be sold as green vegetable
like spring onions in late March and April when green vegetable are not readily available
Encouraged by such success, the RDC, Wengkhar is further planning to bring more areas
under bulb onion cultivation by exploring other areas where onion can be cultivated in
the similar manner.
The bulb site and the farmers for growing onion growing was done with the geog
Agriculture extension after which seeds of variety bulb onion variety called Pune Red
was procured from National Seed Centre, Paro. The funding support for seed
procurement was given by RGoB, HRDP-JICA and MAGIP.
The Research team from RDC Wengkhar, RDSC khangma under Trashigang dzongkhag
in collaboration with with dzongkhag agriculture sector in Trashigang has already
completed onion cultivation in seven low lying places under Trashigang dzongkhag.
Tanden Zangmo/Thimphu
Bulb onion cultivation in the eastern region has proven to be a successful venture and the
shops nearby has now been replaced by local variety as the mass cultivation is increasing
in the region.
As part of boosting home production of onion, the RDC Wengkhar has initiated the bulb
onion cultivation in the country few years ago and this year the mass cultivation has
initiated in Trashigang from this month.
The wetland remaining fallow during the winter months are being utilized for bulb onion
cultivation and most farmers have expressed that the paddy and onion cropping system
suits best in irrigated wetland.
According to the Research Officer with the RNR RDC Wengkhar, Kinley Tshering,
initiative of Research and Development Centre (RDC), Wengkhar under Ministry of
Agriculture and Forests have enrolled many eastern farmers in mass bulb onion
cultivation.
He said that the commercial production started to take advantage of the current scenario
in the Country where the vegetable is heavily imported although Country has huge
production potential.
The potentiality was proven by a study undertaken by RDC in the past which found out
that onion production helped farmers generate net returns of Nu. 60,000-126,450 per
acre.
He said that the intervention has also received positive interest from farmers since it can
be cultivated in wetlands after paddy is harvested, which otherwise are left fallow.
Hence, the onion cultivation goes well as relay crop in the paddy based farming system in
potential areas of the eastern region.
The intervention according to him was driven by the need to minimize not only huge
quantity of the import but also boost domestic production of vegetables in line with the
commercial vegetable production initiated by Department of Agriculture (DoA).
When asked about the advantage of onion cultivation over other cash crops, Kinley
Tshering said that growing of onion was easier than the other cash crops since the crop is
less damage by wild animals during the fallow phase and in addition the crop remain
unaffected by major pests and diseases.
“Onion cultivation is easy and entail less hard work” Kinley Tshering said.
The area under onion cultivation has increased from 19 acres to 29 acres in 2014 in
addition to increase in the number of households from 133 in 2013 to 226 households in
2014. The project initially implemented mainly in Lhuentse and Trashigang.
Similarly the production has also increased from 36.3 tonnes in 2013 to 44.6 in 2014, a
year after. Among the dzongkhags, Samdrupjongkhar has led the production producing
almost 50 percent of the total onion production. The increasing trend was also observed
in other Dzongkhags.
In the marketing front, farmers were able to sell about 50 percent of the onion they
produced in both the years bringing home a cash income of Nu.0.545 million to Nu.0.753
million in respective years.
Farmers in Samdrupjongkhar have minted the highest income in 2013 amounting to Nu.
0.256 million which Lhuentse has took over in 2014 with 0.201million income generated.
Lately Mongar too observed a drastic increase in income generated compared to the
previous season.
In addition, it is felt that no frequent intercultural operations are required except for about
2-3 weeding and irrigation during the entire season and can be sold as green vegetable
like spring onions in late March and April when green vegetable are not readily available
Encouraged by such success, the RDC, Wengkhar is further planning to bring more areas
under bulb onion cultivation by exploring other areas where onion can be cultivated in
the similar manner.
The bulb site and the farmers for growing onion growing was done with the geog
Agriculture extension after which seeds of variety bulb onion variety called Pune Red
was procured from National Seed Centre, Paro. The funding support for seed
procurement was given by RGoB, HRDP-JICA and MAGIP.
The Research team from RDC Wengkhar, RDSC khangma under Trashigang dzongkhag
in collaboration with with dzongkhag agriculture sector in Trashigang has already
completed onion cultivation in seven low lying places under Trashigang dzongkhag.
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