Dhaka, May 22 -- Onion farmers in Bangladesh have incurred a staggering 24 per cent loss this fiscal year, as they failed to recover their production costs due to abnormal price volatility on the domestic market, according to the latest Bangladesh Bank survey.

The survey report titled "A Study on Value Chain Efficiency of the Agricultural Products in Bangladesh" attributes the abnormal price volatility to the influence of middlemen and the impacts of natural disasters.

The central bank conducted the study between January 5 and 16 this year, covering the value chains of five essential commodities - rice, onion, potato, egg, and broiler chicken - to analyse the value chains and price-setting mechanisms of such products and identify the ac...