How To Start Onion Farming In Nigeria (A Beginner’s Guide)

 

How long does it take for onions to be ready for harvest?

How do I recognize when my onions are ready to be harvested?

How do I start onion farming business in Nigeria?

If you are searching online for any of these keywords, you have landed on the right webpage!

This article is a complete beginner’s guide on how to start onion farming in Nigeria and make lots of money from it.

Here, you will discover how to plant, grow and harvest your onions properly. Read on!

It is a well known fact that onions are among the most consumed food items in Nigeria.

From the Northern part of Nigeria to the South, people use the vegetable to spice up foods. As a matter of fact, there are very few meals that are prepared in the country without onions. Very few I say!

That is the major reason onion farming business is one of the most lucrative agricultural businesses you can venture into as a young man or woman.

Depending on how you start it, the capital and several other things, it is possible to make over 1 million naira profit a year from the business.

For those intending to start in a large scale, there’s simply no limit to how much you can make from the business per annum.

Before we go on, let me address some of the questions you may be having about this farming business.

How Long Does It Take Onions To Mature?

It takes a period of 90 days (3 months) for onions to fully mature and be ready for harvest from the time they’re planted.

This is one of the things that makes onion farming a very lucrative enterprise in the country. You can plant it up to 2 times or more in a year and enjoy the harvest.

Which Is Better Way To Plant Onions, By Seeds Or By Set?

The good thing about farming onions is that you can always plant them in two ways. The first is by seed while the other is by sets.

Onion sets here are very small bulbs of onions sold in the markets solely for planting purposes. They usually have tiny leaves sprouting from the onion bulbs. Below is a picture showing what they look like.

Onion Sets

If you have never seen an onion seeds before, you can take a look at the image below and see what it looks like.

Onion Seeds

Now that you have seen the pictures of what they look like, let’s proceed with how to plant and make money from them.

How To Properly Plant, Grow And Harvest Onions In Nigeria And Other African Countries

In your journey to becoming an expert onion farmer and earning real money from the business, the following are the things you are expected to do.

Get A Land In A Very Good Area

This is always the first thing to do. Onions do require a lot of water to grow and flourish properly, you will do yourself good to get land that close to a water source.

That way, you will not have much troubles irrigating the crops when the rainfall has reduced or stopped entirely.

Choose Your Seeds/Sets Carefully

If there’s a place to be extra careful when it comes to onion farming  in Nigeria, it is when it comes to choosing your seeds or sets.

If you are not careful, those guys that sell them in the markets will just give you anything they like, especially poor quality seeds and sets, leaving you with the challenge of facing a poor harvest.

Always check properly before buying your seeds or sets.

Get Some Workers

Unless you plan on going into a very small scale onion farming where you use your backyard or garden for it, there’s no way you won’t be needing some workers to help you keep the farm running.

Employ at least two workers to help you work on the farm from time to time. You may not be available everytime to do that.

Regularly Water And Care For Your Onions

Once your onions have started growing, you must regularly care for them by watering them, removing unwanted plants and pests around them and applying manure (fertilizer) on them when necessary. Do not leave anything to chances.

This will help them to grow faster and healthier, and produce a very bountiful harvest for you.

Harvest And Sell Them

Once your onions are fully matured (around the third month), it’s time to harvest and sell them.

The best way to harvest to remove the soil around each of them and gently pull the bulb up while holding the leaves. By now, the leaves must have started showing some flowers.

As soon you start seeing those flowers, the onions are ready to be harvested.

To market them, begin by contacting those local sellers in your area and letting them to know you have the agricultural products.

You can also make contacts with both buyers and sellers from different parts of the country.

If you wish to go into exportation of the products, you can start with nearby countries like Niger, Benin Republic, Ghana, Togo and other West African countries.

With time, you can start exporting to other countries like Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom and so on.

Endeavour to monitor your progress by keeping a proper record of both your expenses and profits.

In Summary

Onion farming is no doubt one of the most lucrative agricultural businesses to invest your resources into and earn lots of money.

Since the agric products do not take a very long time to mature, you would be wise to go into the business as soon as you are ready.

Have you been searching online for how to start onion farming in Nigeria?

I hope you find the information here useful.