Evaluation of Trend Models Performance and Forecasting Onion Production: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Onions, a significant spice crop in Bangladesh, frequently experience price surges due to an imbalance between demand and supply, compelling the government to import onions. The volatility of the onion market in Bangladesh and the measures needed to stabilize the situation require intensive policy attention. Therefore, this study was carried out to forecast the onion production over time and to evaluate the efficacy of various trend models. The secondary data was collected from the Food and Agriculture Organization's Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) from 1972 to 2022. The autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was used to predict the onion production over time. Additionally, metrics such as modified and the coefficient of determination were used to evaluate the effectiveness of eight trend models comprehensively. The findings indicate that the cubic model is superior to others since it has larger and adjusted values. The models' accuracy is also determined utilizing mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean absolute deviation (MAD) metrics. The cubic trend model exhibits lower MAPE and MAD values of 29.43% and 80638.67, respectively. Therefore, it is concluded that the ARIMA (2, 2, 2) model is the best model for forecasting the annual production of onion in Bangladesh. A five-year trend analysis spanning from 2023-2027 indicates an upward trend. Such a result offers a critical insight for stakeholders and policymakers in formulating sustainable onion production strategies. J Bangladesh Agril Univ 22(3): 386-395, 2024