Since last year, the Korea Program on International Agriculture (KOPIA) Sri Lanka Centre has been assisting in promoting the multiplication of onion seed in Sri Lanka, in cooperation with the Field Crops Research and Development Institute (FCRDI) of the Department of Agriculture. The program will continue until the end of next year. The project aims to improve onion productivity by utilizing Korean agricultural technology, and help Sri Lanka achieve self-sufficiency in the agricultural sector.
 Onions stored on shelves |
Under the KOPIA project, the Centre set up three model farm villages in Mannar, Galenbindunuwewa and Hambantota to produce onion seeds, and provided all inputs for farmers last year. The Centre donated rain shelters for 2 ha (500m2 each) to 40 farmers, to protect onion flowers from rain.
This year, four onion storages (165m2) were built in Galenbindunuwewa, Hambantota and Mahailluppallama. Each storage facility comprises 12 shelves in 5 levels. Using the Korean storage techniques can reduce storage losses by 1-3% compared to a typical storage method. Farmers also benefitted from shared agricultural technologies transferred from Korean experts and Sri Lankan researchers of FCRDI in the field of onion production.
Another important step taken by the project was that the mother bulbs were transported to Nuwara Eliya for vernalization in October to improve flowering, which will be planted in December. KOPIA is also planning to provide rain shelters for three ha next year to enhance the multiplication of onion seed production.