Onion imports from Niger crippling Ghana's domestic production
In 2012, the Ghana News Agency reported that Ghana loses $5 million annually from the importation of onions.
A visit by citifmonline.com to the onion market in Agbogbloshie revealed that, Ghanaians prefer imported onions, especially onions from Niger as compared to the locally grown ones.
Mubarak Yakubu, who has been selling onions for the past five years in an interview said “Honestly, in Ghana we don’t have onions like that [the foreign ones]. Our onions are not as good as the Niger ones so Ghanaians prefer Niger onions.”
The Vice Chairman of the Greater Accra Onion Importers and Sellers Association, said “Most people like onions from Niger because it’s different. It’s very sweet, yellowish in colour. It’s very big and we buy it with foreign currency”.
Yakubu admonished that, to reduce the importation of onions, we as a people should have more plantations, learn how the Nigeriens do it and implement it in Ghana so as to also help reduce the high cost of onions.
Source: citifmonline.com
