Agri ministry, NAREI spearheading onion cultivation trials

Onions grown locally in 2017 (SN file photo)

With numerous failed efforts at commercialization, the Ministry of Agriculture has embarked on another pilot project for onions here with lands on the Soesdyke Highway and at the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) currently under cultivation.

In a brief comment, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha related to Stabroek News that the trials are ongoing and 10 acres on the highway and at NAREI are part of the cultivation.

In addition to the large-scale trial, NAREI in a January Facebook post disclosed that it was partnering with 11 farmers from regions Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six, to conduct a trial cultivation of onions. The in-house trials saw 22 varieties of onions cultivated under shaded conditions.