Sizzling taste of onions’ wealth in Mandera

Along River Mandera towards Ethiopia’s Suftu town is a 30-acre onion farm.

While onion farming is seen as a tiresome task because it is labour-intensive, right from land preparation to harvesting, Issack Mohamed Adan, the owner of the farm, says the rewards are far much bigger than the challenges.

“I have farmed onions for the past 10 years on leased land and the yields are good,” says Adan, hinting he mints good money from the crop which does well in dry areas like Mandera.

Before he went for onions, Adan was growing maize on the same acreage, but he ended up with only 200 90kg bags and had difficulties selling the crop. But now onions offer him over 300 50kg bags from the acres, which he sells at Marikiti in Nairobi.

“I sell in Nairobi because the price is better, it varies from Sh60 to Sh80 per kilo,” says Adan, who sold his produce few weeks ago at the market.

Before he grows the Agramoud variety from Yemen, which he sources from Somalia, he tests the soil to make informed decisions on fertility as onions need a pH of 6 to 6.8.

“If the pH is below 6, I apply lime at the rate recommended by test results.”

He prepares the land about a month before planting to loosen the soil to a fine tilth.

“But that is not even where I start my farming. I first plant the seeds in 1cm deep furrows in a nursery that is 4ft wide with eight rows that are 10 to 15cm apart,” he says, noting he plants 60kg of seeds, each which he buys at Sh4,000.

CHALLENGES FACED

The leading onion farmer in Mandera cites poor irrigation system, lack of local labour, fungal diseases and regular flooding on his farm as the major challenges.

“I have been using furrows to supply water to my farm but the best irrigation system I have learnt is sprinkler or drip. Furrow sometimes makes my farm flood leading to rotting of onions.”

He notes that youths in Mandera don’t want to work on farms because they consider the job dirty, forcing him to import workforce from Somalia and Ethiopia, which is expensive as he has to make arrangements with security agents for them to be allowed into the country.

Onions are ready for harvesting after about four months, when they weaken at the top of the bulb, hang low and the leaves lose the green colour.

“One should let the onion tops fall and leave the bulbs in the ground for another 10 to 12 days for them to mature fully,” he says, but cautions the bulbs should not stay longer in the ground because they become prone to diseases that make them rot during storage, or start growing again.

Onion harvesting must be done on a sunny day leaving room for roots to dry and die.

TEST THE SOIL

“If you harvest them in moist conditions, they won’t dry out so well and this reduces the shelf-life which is up to four to six weeks,” says Adan, who rotates the crops with melons and uses his lorries to transport the produce to Nairobi.

Mandera County Crop Management Director Daniel Lolpejalai says failure by locals to reduce dependence on livestock is a main challenge to crop farming.

“A good practice when watering onions is to avoid doing it from above in the evening as moisture settles on leaves easily causing diseases,” adds Lolpejalal, noting onions do extremely well in the region.

Onion thrips and mildew are the common pests and diseases that pose a challenge to onion farmers in the county.

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Test the soil.

• Always have the soil tested to make informed decisions. Onions need a pH of 6 to 6.8. If it is below 6, apply lime as recommended.
• Prepare the land about a month before and incorporate fertiliser. Loosen the soil deeply and prepare the land to a fine tilth.
• Seedbed should be 4ft wide with eight rows 10 to 15cm apart. Make 1cm deep furrows along the rows.