Ismail Adebayo, Birnin Kebbi
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture has organized a workshop for elites farmers in kebbi State to address the challenges affecting onion production in Nigeria due to poor storage of the produce.
The permanent secretary in the Federal Department of Agriculture, Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe said the workshop titled Adoption of Good Post harvest Handling and improved Storage Techniques for Onion Producers was borne out the need for government to continue upgrading knowledge and technical know-how of elites farmers, relevant desk officers and extension staff on coordinated agricultural innovative approach required to reduce post harvest losses and increase onion shelf life.
Umakhihe who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mrs Omotosho Marvelous said "It's sad to note that over 40 percent of onions are lost at post harvest and storage levels".
He said the country currently contributes little to the export market due to inadequate knowledge and skills in onion production and this has resulted in high post harvest losses, poor yield and quality of the produce.
The permanent secretary added that despite being the 2nd largest producer of onions in Africa and 7th largest in the world Nigeria is yet to meet it's 2.44m metric tons national onions demand. He explained that though there is slight increase in the national output from 1.4m metric tons in 2018 to 1.5m metric tons in 2020 about 622,084 were recorded as post harvest losses with only 895,195 metric tons being utilized.
"This is with a demand gap of 1.5m metric tons amid explosive population growth to be bridged by importation of onions and onion products such as onion powder and oil valued at 3.22m dollars in 2020 which exerts enormous pressure on the nation's foreign exchange earnings", he said.
Earlier, the state director in the ministry, Shehu Abdullahi in his welcome address said relevant experts are invited to enlightened the farmers and guide them to address post harvest losses on onion production and increase their returns on investment.
