Nigeria has exported onion worth $16 million in 2021, the National President of the National Onion Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Malam Aliyu Isa Maitasamu, has said.
He disclosed this during the West and Central Africa regional meeting held in Sokoto on Tuesday.
He said the net worth of the formal exports amounted to $2,012,637.08,, while informal export was $14, 453, 700. 79 in 2021.
“But to repatriate our onion proceeds is always a problem because there is no window for CFA and Cedis in our banks and because of this we are losing a lot.
“We are appealing to the federal government to include CFA and Cedis in the window available for repatration of onion export proceeds,” he called.
He said Nigeria is one of the largest onion producers in the world.
“We produced 1.4 million metric tones of onion every year and our monthly local consumption is just 200,000 metric tones while our local annual demands is 2.5 million metric tones.
He said the farmers are losing 60 percent of their harvest due to lack of storing facilities and this was the reason why they initiated its export.
“But we have only one approved rout for exporting our onion which is Illela border.
“We therefore appeal to our government to consider reopening more borders for exporting onion in the country,” he said
The President of Regional Observatory Body of Onion Sector in West and Central Africa, Alhaji Mustapha Khadiri, said the meeting was meant to review challenges of onion trade across Africa with a view to resolving them.
“We reviewed our successes, challnegs and way forward because we want to improve onion trade in our Continent,” he said
The Ghanian representative, Abdulkadir Abdulsalami, however assured Nigerian onion traders of protection in their country
