The Enugu State Agricultural Development Programme (ENADEP) has urged farmers in the state to engage in onion farming to boost its production.
ENADEP’s programme manager, Ogbonna Onyeisi, made the call in an interview in Enugu on Friday.
Mr. Onyeisi said it was important for onion farmers to increase production to reduce high costs and scarcity and have enough of the produce in the coming years.
According to him, onions are presently cultivated in the Nsukka Local Government Area of the state.
He said the agency would come up with a plan to get the data of all the onion farmers in the state.
“We are encouraging farmers to put more effort into cultivating much of the produce in the state. This is how tomato farmers started, and now much tomatoes are being cultivated and harvested in Nsukka,” he said.
The price of onions has increased drastically as a big bag is sold for N120,000 while a painter goes for between N5,000 and N6,000, respectively, in major markets in the state.
Meanwhile, some dealers said the hike in price was caused by the high fares caused by fuel subsidy removal, bad roads, multiple taxes and insecurity.
At the onion market in Garki, Agbani Road, a dealer, simply known as Ibrahim, said they spend days on the road due to the bad roads from the North to the South-East.