Arusha — WITH mounting security concerns among truck owners ferrying farm produce from Tanzania to South-Sudan via Kenya, onion producers in Arusha have temporarily suspended vegetable exports to Juba.
Reports from the Tanzania Horticulture Association (TAHA) indicate that, while South-Sudan remains a lucrative market for red b u l b onions, preferably those grown in Arusha, few truck owners seem to be willing to take their vehicles into Northern parts of Kenya as well as South-Sudan, both believed to suffer from frequent security breaches.
"Onion exports to South- Sudan will (only) resume once things stabilize in South Sudan," says Ms Adda Ngoya, spokesperson of TAHA when speaking to the 'Daily News', over the weekend.
However, onion exports from here to Mombasa, Kenya continue. In 2016, the TAHA fresh produce logistics facilitated onion exports from local growers to Juba in South Sudan and Mombasa in Kenya.
The initiative was hatched to support small scale growers on the slopes of Mount Meru, especially the upper hill zones where farmers grow mostly onions, while the lower plains farmers specialise in tomatoes. To date, there are more than 200 hillbillies onion growers in Arumeru who enjoy bumper harvests owing to their adherence to value chain and working in partnership with farm input companies. In a good season, a farmer could earn up to two billion shillings.
TAHA executive director Jacqueline Mkindi says assistance from the private sector was already working to their advantage, linking them with potential market outlets and free extension services. With appropriate farming methods, farmers can now harvest up to two tonnes from a single acre, packaged in about 200 bags where a single bag of onions could rake in 100,000/-, or roughly 20m/- from an acre every season.
