The price of a giant bag of onions rose from ₦130,000 in December 2023 to ₦270,000 in December 2024 at the Mile 12 Market in Lagos, indicating a 108 per cent price jump over the period.
According to BusinessDay, prices of the onion bulb have also risen in other states across the nation. In Plateau State, a bag of onions rose 108 per cent from ₦120,000 in December 2023 to ₦250,000 in December 2024. This is the same situation in Anambra and Delta states.
“The price is very high now due to the Christmas and New Year season and also demand from our neighbouring countries. But there has also been low output due to the fake seedlings planted by some farmers. Nevertheless, those who planted better seedlings are now making a lot of money from onions,” said Danladi Haruna, a Kano State-based onion farmer and trader.
Amir Idris, national secretary of the National Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NOPPMAN), Kaduna State chapter, said the dominance of poor seedlings is affecting production, making farmers unable to meet high demand from Nigerians and neighbouring countries.
“Farmers have experienced a problem of low yields that can be associated with the negative consequences of poor inputs. The seeds they got were bad and so it affected the yield generally,” Idris explained in a telephone interview.
Idris revealed that a lot of farmers experienced low yields owing to the poor seedlings they planted during the dry planting season in October, which have led to “low supply while demand is high.”
He noted that the current surge has become more alarming to consumers because of the festivities – Christmas and New Year celebrations.
In local markets today, a bundle of six small onions is sold for ₦1,500 as against ₦500 in the same period of 2023, indicating a 200 per cent rise.
According to the national secretary, Nigerians should get ready to cope with the surging onion price until high-yielding hybrid seeds are presented to farmers.
