Onion farmers may have reasons to smile in Kano if the State Government’s promise is something to stand by.
The Government says any moment from now, it will establish onion processing factories in the State to end the total neglect that the farmers are complaining about.
Aliyu Muhammadu Inuwa has been a successful onion farmer at Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano for about five decades, and he has no course to regret his choice.
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Even though he has been recording a bumper harvest, he believes he can do better with the government’s support if the latter could accord adequate attention to other farm produce to onions.
“Two years ago, I harvested about 300 bags of onion. This year I am expecting about 100 bags because of the production cost. If the government supports us farm input, we will produce more onion and generate revenue”, he said.
Being the onions planting season during harmattan, Alhaji Saleh Umar was already planting his setts when our Correspondent visited his farm this week.
Alhaji Saleh harvested over 83 bags of onion last year. Still, he also believes that with government support, onion farmers in Kano and Jigawa can supply onion to the entire West African countries.
“I cultivated 84 bags of onion last year, and I can produce more than 2000 bags if government support me. Right now, we are facing the cost of production.
What we need now is government to focus on Agriculture. We want the government to support us with new farming techniques. If government empower us, only Kano and Jigawa, we can supply West African countries with enough onions”.
Nigeria is the second onion producing country in Africa after Egypt, with over 14 million bags of onion annually, while Kano alone harvests over 4 million onion bags every year. But despite this achievement, onion farmers are challenged with modern facilities for preservation and processing.
The National President of Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria NOPPMAN, Aliyu Isah Maitasamu, expresses dismay that the onion farmers are yet to benefit from Government’s intervention, hence calling for adequate support.
“We are producing 1.4 million metric tones of onion, that is about 14 million bags. But there is no improved storage to the facility to preserve it. We are being left to sort things out ourselves. So we are calling on our government, we are calling on all the stakeholders, we are calling the media to help us advocate”.
Aside from using fresh onions for domestic cooking, it could be processed for onion paste, dehydrated onion flakes, onion powder, onion oil, onion vinegar, onion sauce, pickled onion, onion wine, beverages and more.
An Agriculturist with Bayero University Kano, Dr Abdulwahab Salihu Shu’iabu, says harnessing the onion potential could ease the much-agitated process of economic diversification.
“If we are to move towards that direction of diversifying to onions production, we need to develop suitable varieties that have good storage life and the quality is also good.
We have few people that are into the production of seeds, so if our local farmers are trained on how to produce the seeds of onion, then such farmers can supply their neighbouring communities.
This is achievable and doable”, he adds.
When contacted, the Managing Director, Kano State Agricultural Development Authority KNARDA, Dr Junaidu Yakubu Muhammad, says the State Government has concluded plans to key into onion farming through its Agro Pastoral Development Project.
“We selected about 14 local governments in the State that we will support. Inshallah, we will keep the farmers on how to improve their onion productivities.
We will also train farmers on how to process and market Agricultural Produce”.
Dr Junaidu further reveals that the State Government is collaborating with foreign investors in France to establish onion processing factories in the state.
“We already have intrusted investors from France, and in the future, we will start processing onion here instead of taking it out and bringing it back for consumption”.
Again, this promise sounds nice, but only time will tell whether its implementation is realistic!
