Onions are among the most essential vegetables in households across the nation. The bulk of it is used in the commercial sector in eateries, restaurants and hotels, and Sindh contributes a major chunk of the country’s onion production.
However, like the recent banana crop, Sindh’s onions have also been struggling against a disease for the last few years, leading their producers to shift to other crops to avoid losses and putting a question mark on Sindh’s agricultural research bodies’ performance and their inability to arrest the decline in the two crops.
The Economic Survey of Pakistan FY25 recorded Pakistan’s onion production at 2.67 million tonnes, down from 2.3m tonnes in FY24. The drop in production is attributed to reduced acreage and to onions in Sindh, where they are struggling against a disease.
The Sindh agriculture research department’s analysis has also noted a marked decline in onion production, ie 153116 acres in FY22 and 4118252 acres in FY2
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