Exporter urge FG on CFA repatriation account for onion proceeds

Onion marketers are losing a huge amount of money due to the lack of repatriation account for CFA and Cedis in the country.

The President of the Nigeria Onion Producers and Marketers Association, Aliyu Isa Maitasamu disclosed this during the West and Central Africa regional meeting of onion producers and marketers held in Sokoto on Tuesday.

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Maitasamu said: “Nigeria is one of the largest onion producers in the world. We produced 1.4 million metric tons of onion every year and our monthly local consumption is just 200,000 metric tons while our local annual demand is 2.5 million metric tons.

According to him, the producers are losing 60 per cent of their harvest due to lack of storing facilities and this was the reason why they initiated their export.

“But we have only one approved route for exporting our onion, which is the Illela border. We, therefore, appeal to our government to consider reopening more borders for exporting onion in the country,” he said

He noted that the country exported onion worth over USD16 million in 2021.

“But to repatriate our onion proceeds is always a problem because there is no window for CFA and Cedis in our banks and because of this, we are losing a lot.

“We are appealing to the federal government to include CFA and Cedis in the window available for repatriation of onion export proceeds,” he stated.

The President of Regional Observatory Body of Onion Sector in West and Central Africa, Alhaji Mustapha Khadiri said the meeting was meant to review challenges of onion trade across Africa with a view to resolving them.

“We reviewed our successes, challenges and way forward because we want to improve onion trade in our Continent,” he said