Onion now cheaper in Kano as harvesting season commences

As the onion harvesting season commences in Kano State, the price is said to have dropped in most onion markets in Kano as fresh supplies hit the markets.

A visit to Gundutse onion markets revealed a pool of onions everywhere as farmers and merchants flooded the market with onion supply. According to an onion merchant, Malam Habibu Abubakar, the market has become a hub of business 24 hours a day, adding that indicators have shown that there is bumper harvest this year.

It was gathered that a bag of onion sold for N120,000 in December 2023 is now N25,000 while the white onion which was N150,000 in December now sells between N35,000 and N40,000. However, sources in the markets revealed that with the drop in onion price, the market has been very busy with buyers from various places within and outside the country.

According to one of the marketers, Alhaji Abubakar Yunusa, the market is currently hosting merchants from Ghana, a development he described as something that has never happened in the market. He explained that issues linked to insecurity in some onion producing states and the Niger Republic border closure were some of the reasons behind the mad rush for onions this year.

“I have been an active businessman here in the last two decades, but I have never seen Ghanaians patronising the market till this season. Perhaps, this is why the price of onion didn’t crash as it used to. However, though onions have been produced in large quantities this year, the rate at which it is being taken out of the country will definitely jerk the price up within a short period. Look around you, onion is everywhere and so are buyers,” he revealed.      

An onion farmer, Malam Usman Shehu, told our reporter that there has been a bumper harvest of onions this year, adding that several interventions in terms of teaching farmers best agricultural practices on onion production by some projects and programs in the state contributed to the success recorded in this year’s dry season onion production.