ECOWAS Sanctions Against Niger: Nigeria Losing a Lot – Onion Merchant

The national president of the Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Malam Aliyu Isa, reveals how sanctions by the Economic Community of West African States,ECOWAS, are affecting onion business in the sub-region, and Nigeria is losing a lot of money.

He narrated this in an interview with the newsmen. He also speaks on the factors responsible for the rise in onion price in the country and what should be done to address it.

We are witnessing a rise in the price of onions in our local markets, particularly in the northwestern region, which is the main producer of the commodity. What do you think is responsible for this?

Malam Isa said that the rise in prices is a result of several factors. “If you recall, our planting season used to start around October/November, and then we harvested in the first quarter of the following year. So, during the time we started our planting, I think in 2022 to 2023, there was this issue of naira redesign, which did not afford our farmers the opportunity to even access cash to buy fuel, farm inputs and the rest.”

There was difficulty around that time, even with your money, because the majority of our farmers were not conversant with the issue of a cashless economy.

“There were a lot of issues and hardship, so many onion farmers had to abandon their farms because of the difficulty in accessing inputs.” He added

The abandonment reduced the number of hectres we put in production in the 2022 growing season, which, of course, affected the harvest of 2023, which was around March, April. And of course, when there is a shortfall of production, it will affect market forces of demand and supply.

“Consequently, there was a shortage of onions, and the price rose. We used to buy in the clot season from N5,000 to N6,000, but last year, we started buying at N8,000, N10,000, and N13,000. The price continued to increase within a short period of time. In July, it was around N40,000.” Malam Isa said

Around August, Kano State was supposed to be a place where we should have a lot of harvest. The state started to supply the commodity around July, August, and September. It was supposed to continue till October for Sokoto to take over in November, but their supplies were cut in September, and that of Sokoto was not ready at that time.

There was a little shortfall between October and November, which caused the rise of the commodity above N100,000 per bag, even in the North where it is being produced. Up till now, the demand shock is still within the sub-sector.

Our people can not meet up with the current demand of onions because the supply is not enough. The price is still a kind of shock to us.

“I predicted that the price would come down by now, but it seems my prediction is being overtaken by other factors.” He said

The demand for onions stands at 2.5 million metric tonnes; and even at that, we only produced two million metric tonnes.

Considering our geographical position to some neighbouring African countries like Niger, Benin, Cameroun, etc, we export onions.

Why do we export when we produce  two million metric tonnes and our demand is 2.5 million?

Malam Isa said, “We need to export because we are dealing with perishable items. We need sophisticated facilities to preserve the commodity. If you do that using our local technology, you are going to incur huge losses.”

That is why we need to look for a market so that you can have value for your produce.

Our main problem is not the issue of exportation but the post-harvest losses we are battling with. If we can preserve farm produce off-season, then we don’t need to cry for shortage. We produce enough, but we can not preserve what we produced, so if we allow it to go into wastage, we would suffer during the off-season.

In conclusion, it is also from the two million metric tonnes that you have post-harvest losses. So, the actual production, even without any post-harvest loss and export, we can not meet up with domestic demands.

Our borders with Niger Republic are all closed, so our businesses in the whole northwestern states have closed.

Can you quantify how much Nigeria is losing in terms of forex related to onion export?

“On onions alone, we started generating about USD429 million, but business is not moving because the borders are closed. When you need to export, it comes with a lot of stress and issues.  And we are battling with domestic demands.” The national president of the Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Malam Aliyu Isa added.

Dailytrust/Shakirat