Ilam, July 6: How much onion does a farmer produce? In general, it is customary to plant onions only for household consumption in the villages. However, farmers in Ilam have shown that if the onion is cultivated commercially, good income can be obtained from it.

This year, many farmers in the district have cultivated onions commercially.

The commercial onion farmers have produced onions from one man (40 kg) to 65 mans this year.

Prakash Parajuli, a farmer of Sandakpur Rural Municipality-3, Sulubung, said that after looking at this year’s production, we could say that Nepal could become self-reliant and sufficient in onions.

He said that he produced 65 mans of onions and sold them.

“This year, I sold 60 mans onions at the rate of Rs. 2,200 per man. I kept as much as five mans to keep at home for household consumption and give to neighbours and relatives as gift,” he said.

He said that the production of hybrid varieties of seeds is good in the village as compared to local ones.

 Parajuli, who has been cultivating vegetables since 2009, said that with the help of Sandakpur Rural Municipality, he planted 200 grams of onion seeds of PI 172 variety bearing 50 per cent of the cost.

He said that the cost of 200 grams of onion seeds was Rs. 7,500.

He said that around Rs. 32,000 was spent from planting onion seeds to its harvesting.

Even after deducting total costs, he earned a net profit of Rs. 93,000 from the sale of onion this year.

  “Three years ago, I had grown 100 mans of local onions. However, due to the lack of proper management of storage, many onions at that time were damaged. It could not be sent to the market in time,” he said.

 He said that onions have been produced well this year.

Parajuli said that other farmers also grew one piece of onion weighing from 500 grams to 800 grams. Bishnu Khanal also grew 19 mans of onions this year.

Mohan Subedi, a farmer of Maijogmai Rural Municipality, also grew four mans of onions this year. Subedi said that he sold onion at the rate of Rs. 70 per kg.

“Monkeys destroyed other crops and vegetables, so onions were planted a little more this year, and the yield was good.” Subedi said, “If we work hard on onions, we have concluded that its market and income will be good.”

According to the data of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, onion is cultivated on 115 hectares of land in the district.

Jeevan Thadamagar, Agricultural Extension Officer of the Centre, said that the production of onion has increased by 100 tonnes this year as compared to last year. He said that around 1,874 tonnes of onions were produced in the district last year.