Onion farmers lament price plunge blamed on shortage of buyers
Onion farmers wait for buyers. The price of the crop has dropped sharply in Karatu District. PHOTO| FILE
What you need to know:
- One of the onion local traders in the area at that time, Mr Robert Gapjojig, blamed what he termed as “local politics” to the fall.
Arusha. Onion farmers in Karatu District, Arusha Region, are grappling with the drastic fall of the producer prices of their cash cow.
The crop is now selling at Sh50,000 per bag from Sh180,000 to Sh200,000 a few months ago.
The district agricultural officer attributed the shock fall of producer prices to a drop of buyers from Kenya, the main market for onions from the area.
“This is in sharp contrast with the situation during the rainy seasons when Karatu is flooded with buyers from Kenya,” he said.
During such periods buyers from Kenya could be seen queueing to buy the commodity which besides being consumed there is re-exported overseas.
Onion farming in Karatu District, notably at Mang’ola Village on the shores of Lake Eyasi, has had its good moments until recent years.
The farmers were earning about Sh150,000 to Sh200,000 per bag stuffed with the produce and sold mainly to Kenya.
The most famous specie now fetching higher prices in both the local and foreign markets is ‘red creole’ type, which is popular to the buyers as far as Sudan and Ethiopia besides Kenya.
From 2019, even before the outbreak of Covid-19, the situation drastically changed with producers earning a paltry Sh50,000 and if lucky Sh80,000 per bag.
One of the onion local traders in the area at that time, Mr Robert Gapjojig, blamed what he termed as “local politics” to the fall.
“Local politics are to blame. Farmers have been chased from the water sources and can no longer irrigate their farms,” he told The Citizen then.
Mr Joshua Chuwa, one of the affected farmers this time around, said a 70-kilogramme bag of onions was now fetching only Sh50,000.
Karatu District Commissioner Dadi Kolimba said the government was aware of the situation and was seeking an immediate solution.
One of them, he said, was to seek a ‘direct market’ for the producers, instead of going through the third parties such as the brokers and the like.
Other interventions, according to him, is to construct a major market for the commodity in the district so that buyers from outside can make purchases there.
