Onion seed production—a profitable crop enterprise today in West Bengal

摘要

IN the potato (Solatium tuberosum) belt of West Bengal especially of Burdwan and Hooghly districts autumn rice (transplanted) - potato -sesame / vegetables and autumn rice (transplanted) - potato - summer rice are the predominant rotations. But in some parts of Hooghly district (Balagarh and Jirhat tahsil) jute - winter rice - onion (Allium cepa) is the widely practised rotation. An on-farm study was conducted by the scientists of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya in Burdwan (Memari block) and Hooghly districts during 1992-94. It showed that after early harvesting of potato, planting of onion bulb as a seed crop under residual nutrient condition produced seed as well as bulb of marketable quality and able to earn Rs 6.96 out of Re 1 on investment. Besides this, onion needs 3-4 irrigations with less than 300 mm water, while water demand of rice may be as high as 1 500 mm in summer. Again, planting of onion bulb after potato reduces the cost for land preparation as well as fertilizer cost.