Farmers on the border of Tiruchi and Perambalur districts have been busy in storing the onion using conventional method, following appreciable harvest during the current “Thai pattam”.
The conventional storage using hay or thatches, aims at conserving the produce for at least six months, providing ample opportunity for the onion growers for possible increase in its price.
Farmers of this region cultivate shallot for about three months. Adequate irrigation facility has facilitated farmers of Tirupattur, P.K. Agaram, Rettimangudy, Perakamby, Seethevimangalam, and Maniankurichi villages on the border of these districts.
An estimated 25,000 acres of land was brought under cultivation in this cluster of villages. The huge arrivals of shallot from this region can be gauged from the fact that the State government had set up cold storage for onion at Chettikulam in Perambalur district.
According to R. Raja Chidambaram, State secretary of Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam, onion growers preserved the onion through the conventional storage, called as “pattarai”. Big and small “pattarai” is set up depending on the harvest realised. While the smaller ‘pattarai’ can stock 2,500 kg, the bigger one stocks double the quantum.
He said severe heat wave this season was posing a serious challenge to the onion growers. “With the sharp increase in mercury level, onion growers have been setting up the ‘pattarai’ in shady areas under the trees, so that the produce can withstand the heat wave,” he added.
He said that some remedial measures should be effected at the cold storage at Chettikulam so that the produce could be stocked there.
Adequate irrigation facility has resulted in good harvest in some clusters of villages
Onions can be preserved for up to six months using the conventional storage methods
