Onions introduced as viable cash crop

A field with the crop
A field with the crop

The Ministry of Agriculture is making arrangements to help onion growers on the island maximize results from this cash crop.

The Support to Horticulture Programme which has helped farmers cultivate white potatoes, introduced onions for this financial year, 2014/2015.

“We look at onions as a means of import substitution,” says Jason Bruno, Coordinator of the Support to Horticulture Programme. “We are doing some trial plots this year and we really hope that we will have a good yield; we have seen positive results thus far.”

Bruno says if done properly, onions can be very profitable. He says with three pounds of seeds per acre, a farmer can yield up to 10,000 lbs per acre.

The crop requires a lot of moisture in the early stages and dry weather conditions in the latter stages so the vegetable can dry.

The Ministry is providing technical support in addition to equipment that will make farmers more efficient.

One of the seeders used to assist farmers
One of the seeders used to assist farmers

“We have bought four new seeders which will assist the farmers to sow their seeds properly, have proper rows and have less wastage,” according to Bruno.

He says the seeder will guarantee even six inch spacing between plants and evenly spaced rows.

Bruno is so far satisfied with the progress made by farmers and impressed with their enthusiasm to expand production of the crop. The Ministry of Agriculture too, has its plans to further assist onion growers.

“We are in the process of looking at sourcing tillers which will greatly reduce the land preparation effort of the farmers who would be involved in both onions and potatoes,” he said.

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9 Comments

  1. x
    March 25, 2015

    marijuana is a viable cash crop

  2. estateofmind
    March 24, 2015

    Total nonsense that.

  3. Dominic
    March 24, 2015

    forget bananas them cucumber onions them thing is shout crop we need long tarm crop like bananas

  4. Zandoli
    March 24, 2015

    Great initiative. The farmers can use all the support they can get.

  5. grell
    March 24, 2015

    Onions are good and yes more cucumbers and sorrel,this is what this foolish labour party should have been doing a long time,the world has a shortage of food.

  6. Dominican in London
    March 24, 2015

    Please farmers, start growing cucumbers. The West Indian cucumber is very popular in London, but alas we cannot get them!

    Grow and export cucumbers to London. Blue Mountain greengrocer in Harlesden are frustrated by the lack of west Indian Cucumber. Dominica, exploit this cash cow!

    • Zandoli
      March 24, 2015

      What is a West Indian cucumber? I have never heard of a cucumber referred to as “West Indian”.
      I have heard of the seedless English cucumber. There is also the variety with seeds.

      I am not trying to be cure here. I want to be educated.

      • Titiwi
        March 25, 2015

        Boy, you never hear of cocom? Sorry, that is our own, not available for export.

  7. JoJo
    March 24, 2015

    I give this initiative full support to get away from those imported onions, which often are tired when they reach us. Provided of course that we do not have a situation like with the Irish potatoes when for a certain time our farmers are given monopoly leaving us without potatoes at all. Especially with onions we can not have that. Nor must they be more expensive than imported onions because that would defeat the purpose of the exercise and plain silly, apart from the fact that we would be unable to export any. I really hope it will be a success.

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