Since onion is one of the major crops cultivated in Chitradurga, Hiriyur and Challakere taluks of the district, the farmers here are always in a quest to find out new methods to reduce the investment on the crop, in order to make more profit.
This time, the majority of the onion growers in the district have started growing onion seeds in at least 10 guntas of their farm land to reduce the investment cost.
According to official sources, onion is cultivated on more than 16,000 hectares of land in the district (5,500 hectares in Challakere taluk, 5,000 hectares in Chitradurga taluk, 2,500 hectares in Hiriyur taluk, 1,800 hectares in Hosadurga taluk, 800 hectares in Molkalmuru taluk and 400 hectares in Holalkere taluk).
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The farmers require a minimum of four kg of good quality seeds to grown onion in one acre. Private companies sell the seeds at Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 per quintal depending on the quality of the seeds.
Based on the cultivation area of onion in the district, the farmers require 1,600 quintal of onion seeds. Some of the small and medium farmers find it difficult to invest on seeds and other material required for cultivation. So, the farmers had decided to grow seeds in at least 10 guntas of their land.
This move would help farmers to grow a minimum of 640 quintal of seeds and the remaining 960 quintal would be purchased from the companies, sources said.
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In order to grow seeds on their own, the farmers had separated good quality onions during the last kharif season and preserved them till the suitable climatic condition arrived.
The growing of seeds had begun in the month of November and after four months the seeds are now ready for sale.
According to sources, the farmers are expected to set aside some quantity of the seeds for themselves and sell the remaining to other farmers at reasonable rates without the interference of middlemen.