Business
Onions Scarcity Hits PH
The price of Onions, a popular food spices used in almost every household has risen by over 200 per cent in the market.
Investigations have shown that the much cherished food spice is now beyond the reach of some households, as the commodity has become scare in recent time.
It was gathered that many households that cannot meet up with the high cost of onions, have now resorted to preparing their meals without it.
Already, the quantity of onions that was sold for N100 during the Christmas period, now sells for N300, while the number of people that sell the commodity has drastically reduced also.
A household in Port Harcourt (name withheld) who spoke with The Tide on the matter, said that the cost of onions now in the market was unbelievable, as this had appeared to be very unusual.
She said that the experience this time around, with respect to the price of onion was very strange, and as she puts it “it is very strange to me on what onion have turned out to be in the market. It has never been like this, even when the onions is off the season”.
However, when The Tide visited the fruit market in Port Harcourt to speak with the chairman of fruits and vegetable sellers, to ascertain the level of things, although he could not be reached, but findings revealed that the scarcity and high cost of the commodity was as a result of flood that destroyed the farm in the northern part of Nigeria.
One of the dealers who gave his name as Abdual Usman told The Tide that the cause of the scarcity and high cost of onion was due to the flood that wrecked havoc on the farms in the north, particularly in Sokoto and Kebbi states.
According to him, these are the two states where onions are produced in commercial quantity in Nigeria.
At the moment, he said that onions they sell now came from Ghana, Cameroun and probably from Niger Republic pointing out that traders in Port Harcourt buy goods from Aba.
He said a bag of onions they bought at the cost of N32,000 last December now sells for N50,000, outside transport and wonder how they can sell that.
Corlins Walter