Cultivating and Harvesting of Onions in India
Onions are widely used in India. It is used mostly in every dish we make, being one of the most used vegetables it is grown in all states in India. If you’re interested in onion farming continue to read the blog.
Onion farming in India is done in two cycles: from January to May and the other from November to January. Onions can be grown in a wide range of soils from sandy soil to clay loam soil. But it should have a good drainage system and the pH of the soil must be between 6.5 to 7.5. Let’s check in detail how to do onion cultivation in India.
Process of Onion Cultivation in India:
Selection of Seeds: The main step of cultivation is onion seed selection. Selecting Onion seeds depends on the season, variety and demand in the market. Mostly used onion seeds for cultivation are:
- Agrifound Dark Seed and Light Red
- NHRDF Red
- Arka Kalyan, Niketan and Pragati
- Pusa White Round and Red
To prevent pests and diseases from the seeds, they should be treated with fungicides and insecticides.
Sowing seeds: After selecting onion seeds, they should sow in raised beds with spacing of 10 – 15 cm, width of 1.2 m and length of 3-4 m for nursery raising. It takes 40 – 50 days for the seeds to be grown into leaves. After they turn into leaves of height 15-20cm you can transplant them.
Preparing the land and transplanting: The land should be perfectly ploughed, harrowed and levelled to flatbeds for planting the seedlings. The seedlings are transplanted at a spacing of 15cm by keeping 4-5 seedlings per hill. The seedlings should be watered immediately and to be covered with straw or dry grass.
Irrigation: Onion farming requires regular watering at the interval of 7-10 days. Before 15-20 days of harvesting the watering should be stopped to promote maturity and curing.
Fertilization: Onion farming needs a balanced way of fertilizing which consists of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and potassium for better yielding. The fertilizers should be well mixed with the soil and sprayed 5cm away from the rows. Weed and Pests Control: To increase the yield weed and pests need to be controlled from time to time. Weed can be removed manually, by hoeing or by mulching, it also can be done by spraying herbicides. Pests can be controlled by crop rotation, sanitation and by use of pesticides.
Onion Harvesting Process
Harvesting onions requires proper care and management. This process needs a lot of steps to be followed. Let’s see what those are:
- Trimming the onion leaves: When the leaves of onions have collapsed to more than 70% the onions will be matured and ready to be harvested. Harvesting is done above 2-3 cm of onion bulbs to keep it moist and lower the risk of fungal infection in the bulbs.
- Digging the Onions: Digging of onions can be done by hand hoe or by harrowing. Digging should be done when the soil is dry so that soil cannot stick to onions.
- Separating the Onions: The onions should be separated from the soil, stones and damaged ones. It should be done manually and have to separate them according to the size.
- Curing of onions: Separated onions must be kept on the ground and raised on platforms for 1 – 3 weeks. This process helps reduce the moistness and increases the storage quality.
- Cutting and Grading: The onions should be trimmed with dried leaves and roots to better the appearance, the grading can be done by machine or manually to separate them according to the size, quality and colour. And finally, they should be checked for any rotten, damaged, rotting and splitting onions. After all checks the onions are ready for packing and marketing.
The main seasons of onion farming in India:
Onion farming in India can be done in 3 seasons which are Rabi, Kharif and Late Kharif seasons.
Rabi season starts in October and ends in April, this season is considered as the primary season for onion farming as it produces large-sized onions with high yields.
Kharif Season is from May to September and from August to February is Late Kharif season. Onion farming in these two seasons is most likely prone to diseases, and pests and produces lower yields.
After proper cultivating and harvesting of onions, you will get a yield per hectare is 15-20 tonnes on average. The estimation of net profit per hectare is up to 1.5 lakh and above. The cost and profit mainly depend on the season and market value.
If you’re planning to start onion farming in India, please visit our KhetiGuru shop where can find a variety of seeds and fertilizers for onion farming. Thank you for reading the blog until the end.
