Onion traders in Ghana have now resorted to bringing what is left of the produce through Nigeria rather than waiting on Benin and Burkina Faso to open their borders.
This comes after Benin and Burkina Faso closed their land borders over the coup in Niger.
The traders have since been waiting for over a week and hoping that the borders will be opened for the over 75 trucks full of onions to reach Ghana.
Their hope, however, dwindled as the days keep going by, and there is still no sign the borders will be opened.
On the back of this, the onion sellers whose trucks got stranded in Burkina Faso and Benin are now returning to Niger.
According to the traders, they are now using Nigeria as an alternative route for their produce to arrive in the country.
Speaking to JoyNews, the Chairman of the Accra Onion Sellers Association, Alhaji Masawudu Salisu stated that the traders are likely to lose a substantial quantity of the goods due to being stuck at the border.
“We don’t know what to do because right now. If all the goods in the trucks have perished unless we take them to the refuse dump. Nobody will gain what they put inside, nobody will gain. Everybody will lose everything”, he said.
Mr. Salisu further explained that they are using a different route to get the rest of the supplies to Ghana through Nigeria.
“Some of the trucks have moved back to Niger so that they can go offload the goods over there again. They are coming gradually from Nigeria to Ghana. Right now, we don’t have onions in Accra.” Mr. Salisu added.
Background
After the coup in Niger, onion traders in Ghana are grappling with potential losses due to supply tracks becoming immobilised at the borders of Burkina Faso and Benin.
A substantial quantity of onions, valued at over GHs200 million have been trapped at the borders of Burkina Faso and Benin, a direct consequence of the closure of land borders.
This predicament has triggered concerns regarding potential shortages and subsequent price surges.
The delay in the transit of more than 75 supply tracks has stirred apprehension among onion importers.
These merchants fear that they may not manage to recoup their initial investments made in procuring the goods.
One trader bemoaned the situation, saying, “It’s been almost a week now, and all the onions have perished in the vehicles. By the time they arrive here, we won’t have any salvageable onions left.”
The once-thriving Agyen Kotoko onion market now stands with empty storage facilities.
“We have over 75 cars standing on the border and it has affected our business. Since you can see the market, it is empty simply because of the coup”, another trader added.
The Peasant Farmers Association is calling on the government to take advantage of the situation to shore up local production of onions to avert such a crisis in the future.
“For us, the farmers, we think this is a golden opportunity, my only appeal to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is that they should try to support us with the seeds, with the water supply system, and with the knowledge. Once we do that, we will be able to increase our current yields of 10 metric tons to 35 metric tons that Nigeriens are doing because our lands are more fertile than those lands,” the Association’s President, Charles Nyaaba said.
