Onion: Huge Market Potential in Ghana

The onion market in Ghana is quite promising, offering numerous opportunities for growth as
well as the capacity to expand market activities.
By

Julius K. Satsi

September 24, 2021

Onion market

By Kojo Ahiakpa
As a prominent component of Ghanaian cuisines, onions are widely patronised and consumed
throughout the country. They may also be used as supplements and in folk medicine.

Due to the perennial scarcity of domestic onion supply and the influx of imports from
neighbouring countries, suitable and sustainable farming practices may be able to lessen reliance
on these imports.

Furthermore, an analysis of the onion market in Ghana would pave the way for future
investments in the commodity value chain. The Bawku red and Galmi onion varieties are the
most commonly cultivated varieties in Ghana.

The Bawku Municipality, Bawku West and Binduri Districts in the Upper East Region are the
primary growing locations for onions in the country (MoFA, 2020).

Onion production trends in Ghana

As of 2019, onion yields in Ghana were estimated to be approximately 19 metric tonnes per
hectare (mt/ha) (MoFA, 2019). Meanwhile, other sources have estimated that the Bawku red
cultivar will require between 10 and 20 mt/ha of land for production. Other cultivars produce 3.7
metric tonnes per hectare under rain-fed conditions and 12 metric tonnes per hectare under
irrigation, with an average yield of 3.3 metric tonnes per hectare (MoFA, 2019).

The majority of onion farmers only cultivate a single crop every year, which is typically planted
in January and harvested in April. Despite the fact that onion farming has been demonstrated to
be lucrative outside of the primary growing season, farmers typically choose to grow other field
crops during the rest of the year, resulting in onion supply shortages during the lean seasons.

Even during peak onion production in Ghana, local onion output falls far short of the demand in
the country. As a result, traders rely on imported onions to keep up with demand (IFPRI, 2021).
A well-textured sandy-loam soil, viable seeds, pest and disease management, recommended
fertiliser application and irrigation are essential for onion farming in Ghana (ACDI-VOCA,
2018). A balance of these factors allows the farmer to successfully complete the entire production
cycle, from land preparation to harvesting.

Market size of onion in Ghana

At the moment, the onion market in Ghana is expanding at an annual rate of 11 per cent (DFID,
2014). Based on this rather rapid market expansion, onion production appears to be sustainable in
the long term, and it will continue to provide good value to the smallholder farmers and
households who are involved in its production (DFID, 2014).

The bulb is widely utilised in Ghana in the preparation of stews and soups, accounting for one-
fifth of vegetable expenditure by households (MoFA-IFPRI, 2020). Even though onions have a
variety of applications in the medical, food, and manufacturing industries, they are only been
utilised for food preparation in Ghana thus far. There is no well documented further utilisation of
the vegetable in the country.

Ghana’s onion imports

Onions are primarily imported into Ghana from Niger, Burkina Faso, and Togo, with the
remainder coming from other countries. According to official figures, onion imports are worth
approximately $ 52.9 million per year (van Asselt et al. 2018).

However, based on historical evidence provided by the Ghana Agricultural Producers and
Traders Organisation (GAPTO), it is estimated that onion imports from Burkina Faso and Togo
alone might be worth more than $120 million per year (Gonzales et al. 2014; Citi News, 2017).

Between 2009 and 2018, United Nations Comtrade (2020) reported that onion imports increased
from USD 7 million to USD 13 million. In 2020, the total value of onion imports was estimated
to be $1.11 million.

. The writer is a consultant with Research Desk Consulting Limited, an agribusiness advisory,
market research, data visualisation, and copyediting consulting firm.