What's the Best Time to Plant Onions For Maximum Profit

Truth is, onion Farming is very profitable, but timing is key. Maximizing your production when market demand is high gives the most profits for onion Farming.

However, lack of market information and proper timing combined with lack of proper skills may reduce your chances of getting good returns.

Many farmers are in denial that we cannot sustain the local onion demand but the truth is, actually the demand is way too high than we can constantly produce.

This is the reason we face acute shortage in onion supply from late April. This demands for imports from Ethiopia, Egypt and India to supply the demand, while Tanzania surplus floods the market in July and August.

This usually flattens the demand curve and pushes the prices to high time lows hence the local farmer may not feel the profits to the maximum and sometimes it’s actually a loss to the local farmer.

Until a time when we can have local constant supply into the market all year round, it’s best to consider planting your onions to harvest when demand is at the peak.

Another option is applying good farming expertise to maximize production. You could break even with 15 to 20 tonnes, selling at the average low of Ksh.40 per kg.

Start your nursery this August and harvest in Dec-Jan. Put another patch in Dec to Harvest in May-June. Here prices range from Ksh.55 to Ksh.90 per kg.

Remember end of Jan-Feb and Early March there is surplus from Nyeri. However, the prices are average and you will still break even. At least Ksh.50 to Ksh.55 per kg.

We have created a WhatsApp group called *BULB ONIONS & GARLIC FARMING TRAINING*

Nearly every meal of the average Kenyan has to have onions as part of the ingredients.

This tells you something about the market out there. There is a high demand for onions!

In Kenya, we have a serious scarcity of onions.

The shortage is so dire that farmers in oloitoktock, Nyeri, Rumuruti, Emali, Kajiado, and other onion growing areas, clear their stocks in less than a week of harvest because of the high demand.

To fill this market demand gap, traders have to go deep into the villages of Tanzania and Uganda in a frantic search for onions.

Now imagine if you were growing onions on your farm.

Right here in Kenya.

Onion Customers would be rushing to buy the onions from you.

And by giving them what they want, you would be saving Kenyan traders the hustle of going to a distant land in search of onions.

Can you now see… the great opportunity onion farming provides?

Timothy Angwenyi
Business Consultant

Justine Nyachieo
Business Man & Mentor