September 23, 2022

Sustainability of the Onion Partnership in Nigeria: Youth Group Takes the Lead in Sokoto State

Fresh Produce

Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the largest producers of onion in the world with about 2 million metric tonnes being produced annually. It is produced in the country's northern region in states like Zamfara, Sokoto, Borno, Kebbi, Jigawa, and Katsina state. Despite the high volume of onion production in Nigeria, the onion market experiences about 40-50% loss due to poor storage facilities. The storage facilities used by SHFs are locally made silos which are built to accommodate the storage of onions for about 6-10 months. Most silos are able to preserve the onions but the losses are still prevalent.

Although onion is consumed all year round in Nigeria and many regions of the world, it is planted in the dry season i.e. between November and January to cater for all year round supply; however, due to the poor storage facilities, the prices of onion increases as demand increases and usually a scarcity ensues especially between October and December during the rainy season.

2SCALE encourages the inclusion of women and youth at all levels of partnership activities and for this reason, it collaborates with business champions (BCs) and business support services (BSS) to implement activities along a value chain. The BSS carries out the majority of the field activities in clusters and the use of organized groups is a determining factor in the success or failure of a partnership.

Reducing losses in the onion value chain

While efforts are being made to reduce post-harvest losses, 2SCALE is partnering with Tay’s Food Limited (TFL) a private agro company in Nigeria handling storage and preservation of onion for improved food quality and security all year round across the country. To reduce wastage by 50%, TFL's integrated solution supports smallholder farmers to set up local storage facilities. TFL’s vision is to play a major role in Nigeria’s onion value chain by setting up a high-class (500 ton) storage facility in Sokoto State. They thus signed a memorandum of understanding with 2SCALE in 2018 to test its business model of improving productivity, storing onion, and sourcing from smallholder farmers in Sokoto State for different markets in Nigeria.;/

At the end of the pilot phase, TFL and 2SCALE conducted an assessment and planned to continue the collaboration through a full-fledged partnership that is currently running.

Sokoto state mainly supplies the south, east and western parts of the country. The dynamic nature of the onion market creates a demand in various varieties, and colors, and for many large-scale agri-food processors, onion in powdered form.

In order to maximize the benefit from the significant opportunities in the onion value chains, farmers and traders store their onions in traditional granaries to resell later when the market demand increases. Unfortunately, huge losses arising from poor agricultural practices, and poor storage facility designs are commonly recorded from the harvest which accrues to more than 50%. To remedy this situation, TFL and 2SCALE implemented a pilot in 2018 with the ambition of contributing to the improvement of productivity and the reduction of post-harvest losses in the State. This pilot focused on demonstrating improved production and storage management practices to prepare farmers, traders, and extension agents to meet the demand for quality onion bulbs. To remedy this situation, 2SCALE is employing the services of the Agricultural Graduates Association of Nigeria (AGAN) youth whose activities are active in Sokoto State. They are young, agile, knowledgeable, and have the skills required to sustain the partnership when it phases out.

AGAN is an association that draws its membership from graduates of agriculture between the age of 20-45 years. The association is made up of over 100 members who are either of agriculture or other disciplines with an interest in agriculture. Presently they have over 30 available staff that oversee the implementation of the extension services provided by the organization. The aim of the association is to provide professional extensive services to farmers.

Over the period of the existence of this Association, it has contributed to food production, nutrition, improved food security, and youth employment in Nigeria through partnership programmes with rural communities in rice/rice seed production and the production of other crops and livestock which have increased yields and enhanced the livelihood of rural farmers in their communities.

Within this partnership, AGAN has been a key stakeholder in enhancing onion productivity to farmers by providing modern technology and innovations through the establishment of learning plots, training and sensitization of farmers on good agronomic practices in the onion value chain.

The achievement and successes of the association have been as a result of strategic partnerships with rural farmers and like-minded organizations.

AGAN youth group worked closely with Agroheed, the former Business Support service provider (BSS) in this partnership. Agroheed is a regional non-governmental organization that provides capacity-building and extension services to farmers. Agroheed was in charge of providing agricultural extension services through the use of technology, innovations, training, and sensitization of smallholder farmers (SHFs). Through their field activities, they have been able to implement change, and increase the knowledge, yield, and productivity of farmers along the onion value chain, a role that will now be taken up by AGAN youth.

Testimonials from TFL and AGAN

Before the intervention of supporting farmers with efficient storage houses, most of them had made huge losses. Mr. Aliyu Maitasamu a staff at Tays’ Food Limited recounts one of the biggest losses in the onion market.

We experienced huge losses in the 2020/2021 season, many farmers lost onion which had been stored up in their silos to an inferno. Many farmers have not been able to recover from it. The fire caused a huge setback and this triggered a hike in onion prices across the country.

He says.

It is a common practice for farmers to keep their onions in a silo to preserve and sell them when prices go up. The fire caused huge losses to farmers and led to a huge setback that has caused a hike in onion prices.

Tays Food has been providing storage support and facilities to smallholder farmers in the state. They also provide the farmers with seeds at affordable prices. The AGAN youth have been making remarkable progress in their work with the farmers. They have provided extension services such as capacity-building trainings on seedling production, fertilizer application, market structure, pricing, and many others.

The AGAN youth have been trained to build capacity and deliver agricultural services to the smallholder farmers in the onion value chain. Working with them has been seamless because they have great communication skills and they are very organized

Comments Mr. Aliyu.

Sustaining the onion partnership with the AGAN youth

One of the farmers, Yashim Baba has been planting onion for 15 years. He is one of the farmers who has benefited from Tays Food and AGAN. For him, the knowledge and the support he has been receiving from the partnership have improved his income over the last 3 years. He narrates:

Tays Food and AGAN are always looking for many ways to help us improve on the quality and quantity of our yield. The access to hybrid seeds as well as fertilizers makes farming easier and the results are always impressive. I want to use this opportunity to thank them for their support thus far and I hope to keep seeing them around

For AGAN youth, this collaboration has been easy due to their vast experience supporting farmers in various value chains. It gives them a sense of satisfaction and achievement once farmers adopt the knowledge they receive from experts.

Chinyere Malizu, an active member of the AGAN youth narrates:

We the AGAN youth are assigned to a cluster and we currently mobilize farmer groups in ten clusters in Sokoto state. We have been able to help the farmers register a cooperative, conduct training and demonstrations along various learning curves. The farmers are thrilled at the results of their harvest using improved variety seeds; improved onion bulb sizes and storage techniques. Working with these farmers has been easy because we have been mobilizing farmers in various agricultural sectors. It gives us a sense of achievement when we see that the knowledge being passed down to the farmers is yielding the kind of results that are expected. Although some of the smallholder farmers are still experiencing losses in their yield, the rate at which they experience these losses has significantly reduced.

Mr Bashar Ismaila who is the AGAN youth president also had positive things to say about their activities thus far. He comments:

From our field activities, there has been improvement in women participation and better opportunities for the youth. Some of them are making money from selling onion seedlings, chemicals, and improved varieties in the local market. Smallholder farmers who use improved variety seeds get them at a subsidized rate. This is because Tyas Food Limited has been supplying the seeds to them in sachets and at cheaper prices. The farmers are impressed with the results and are always ready to listen to us when we have meetings and trainings with them.

For the continuous sustainability of the onion partnership, the AGAN youth intend to maintain a good business relationship with their farmers by promoting good agricultural practices (GAP) by introducing hybrid seeds and other innovative technologies.

The AGAN youth also intend to commence seedling production for women and youth to increase their productivity and improve their income through seedling sales. They also plan to offer consultation services to the farmers by linking them with local and international markets. They are also strengthening the technical capacities of women by introducing them to onion drying which is a viable opportunity to earn more money and improve their bargaining power.

By constantly engaging with smallholder farmers, the AGAN youth plan to sustain the partnership by increasing the volumes, quantity, and quality of onion to meet up with the demand from buyers and investors through more sensitization and improved access to production units.

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