Onion prices crashed in Sokoto

The restoration of peace in parts of the North-East has forced down the price of onion at the Gada international market, Daily Trust has gathered. Gada Local Government is the leading onion producing area in the country and, being a border town, attracts buyers from neighbouring countries and the southern part of Nigeria. Our reporter […]

The restoration of peace in parts of the North-East has forced down the price of onion at the Gada international market, Daily Trust has gathered.
Gada Local Government is the leading onion producing area in the country and, being a border town, attracts buyers from neighbouring countries and the southern part of Nigeria.
Our reporter who visited the market last Wednesday, observed heaps of onion awaiting buyers even as it now sells for about N5,000 per 100kg as against N25,000  to N30,000 last year.
Both farmers and marketers of the commodity are lamenting the development which they, however, attribute to the recent successes recorded in the war against insurgency in the North-East which has enabled farming activities to resume in the area.
Chairman of the onion dealers in the market, Alhaji Idi Gada said the situation is affecting farmers in Sokoto, Kebbi and some parts of the north-western states and dealers of the commodity.
 “We will incur loses this time unless our governments come to our rescue,” he said.
According to Gada, the only way out was for government to buy their excesses as a short measure and woo investors who would establish onion processing companies in their various states.
“Onion is a perishable item that we cannot store for a long period of time. If we don’t sell them now we will lose as it will perish,” he added.
Gada called on government to employ experts, who would train farmers on modern techniques of storing perishable produce, and also ensure that only genuine farmers are selected for the training.
He also urged government to provide onion farmers with seedlings, subsidised fertilizers and pumping machines among others.
An onion farmer, Isa Hashimu Goronyo, said they would realise bumper harvest this year but expressed fear that it would not translate into more money as the price of onion has crashed as normalcy is returning to Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states as a result of which farmers in these state are back to land.
He said last year, he sold a sack of onion for N20,000 to N25,000 which enabled him to develop his piece of land but wondered if his plan for the construction of perimeter fence would be feasible this year because of the current price of the produce, which  he said is very low.
The situation has become worse such that farmers and marketers in the region are pessimistic about regaining their capital unless there is quick intervention by respective governments.
The interventions sought by the stakeholders in the onion business include modern techniques in reserving onion and other perishable goods, access to processing companies, availability of fuel at government price and highly subsidized fertilizer which the farmers could access without depending on a third party and provision of improved seedlings among others.
Isa Tore, Project Manager, Sokoto Agricultural Development Project, who led a team of experts to Gada and Goronyo local government areas for on-the-spot assessment of farming activities in the area, sympathised with the farmers and assured them that the state government would look into their problems and do something about them.