• Plans apply to 650 hectares between 2024-26

With local big onion cultivation seeing a significant decline in the recent past, the Ministry of Agriculture is scrambling to introduce technology and support growers to improve production, which authorities claim may double the yield from one hectare.

It is also learnt that the Ministry has instructed officials to endeavour to maintain its price at Rs. 200 per kilogramme next year (2024). This, as onion prices soar in the market.

It is learnt that the Ministry had recently directed the Department of Agriculture to submit an immediate report on the cultivation of big onions in the country.

Against this backdrop, the Ministry yesterday (27) stated that the Field Crops Research and Development Institute (FCRDI) in Mahailluppallama had taken steps to introduce a “high-tech package” to increase big onion yield. A sum of Rs. 2.5 million will have to be spent on applying the new technology-driven measures on a hectare of big onion cultivation, and the Agriculture Department has allocated a sum of Rs. 160 million for the said purpose next year.

Although only 20 metric tonnes (MT) of big onion can be harvested from a hectare of cultivation at present, the Ministry stated that the application of the said high-tech package would result in increasing the harvest to 40 MT. According to the Ministry, the high-tech package is to be introduced to 650 hectares of big onion cultivations from 2024 to 2026.

Speaking to the media, subject Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that Sri Lanka cannot become self-sufficient in big onions as there is a limited extent of land suitable for big onion cultivation, but that the available land should be properly utilised to maximise big onion production. “80,000 MT of big onions are expected in 2024 by cultivating them on 4,000 hectares. We have instructed relevant officials to give priority to this matter and increase local big onion production so that its price can be maintained at Rs. 200 per kilogramme.”

An official of the Ministry recently told The Daily Morning that while the annual requirement of big onions in Sri Lanka was 300,000 MT, local farmers had produced only 4,716 MT of big onions from January to August this year. According to the Ministry, the quantity of big onions imported from 1 January to August amounts to 131,795 MT.