Onion glut leaves farmers struggling as imports persist, BAS warns

Barbadian onion farmers are struggling to sell their crop despite a strong harvest, as imported onions continue to saturate the market during peak local production, the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) has warned.

The country’s push to expand onion cultivation – now exceeding 100 acres – has exposed weaknesses in marketing and distribution, leaving farmers unable to move produce even as output rises, said BAS chief executive officer James Paul.

“We have been successful in terms of getting farmers to really produce onions this year,” Paul told journalists at a briefing. “But we are in a situation where there are farmers who have difficulty actually selling those onions. They have to compete with imported products, and I really think we need to get to a position where when we are going to encourage the production of a crop, we take into consideration how those commodities will actually be marketed.”

He argued that continued imports during local harvest periods place farmers at a disadvantage and undermine efforts to boost domestic production.

“I don’t believe that we should be importing onions during periods where we know that there is a large amount of local onions available,” Paul said. “Once those harvest dates are known, you shouldn’t have a situation where onions are being imported at the same time. You’re forcing farmers to compete with that imported product, and that, to my mind, does not make sense at all.”

While the government-backed expansion of onion acreage has yielded results, the absence of a coordinated value chain – from storage to market access – has left producers exposed, Paul said. Barbadian farmers, facing higher production costs than their international counterparts, are particularly vulnerable to price pressures, he added.

“In order for farmers to really make some money off it, you have to ask yourself, is the farmer going to make the kind of return that will make them want to plant onions? You want to make a reasonable return on your investment. We don’t want to have a situation where farmers are being taken advantage of or forced to sell below the actual cost of production.”  

Storage and infrastructure gaps are compounding the problem. Unlike imported onions, which are treated for long-distance shipping, Barbadian onions require carefully controlled conditions, including proper ventilation and protection from pests. Paul pointed to the need to restore or replicate drying facilities such as the former facility at Foursquare, St Philip.

“Onions require a certain environment in which they are kept. It must be well ventilated and not exposed to animals. The most important thing is that we need to develop a value chain properly, where the market is developed to the extent where they can actually have access,” he said.

The farming association leader also blamed a lack of coordination among farmers for fragmented selling practices, which weaken collective bargaining power and disrupt supply consistency.

“The farming sector is so disunited at times. A value chain depends on people being able to deliver the product at a good price consistently and of good quality. Acting alone out there sometimes puts you at a major disadvantage, especially with middlemen. If farmers were able to receive and assemble information better, we would be able to arrange better communication with the market.”

Despite the current challenges, Paul said Barbados has the capacity to meet its full onion demand, estimating that only about 20 per cent is currently supplied locally. He suggested production could double to 200 acres within a year if marketing and storage systems are improved.

“Barbados has the ability to satisfy the market 100 per cent in terms of onions. We can do it. The only question is storage, and we have shown that if you put in place enough storage capacity, you can store onions for extensive periods. But we need to address these issues now. If you frustrate people this year, how many are going to be prepared to increase production for next year?”

With intermittent rains threatening crops still in the ground, Paul urged farmers to report yields and harvest dates promptly to the BAS to support better market coordination. He also called for closer alignment between private sector players and the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC).

“We as Barbadians have got to work with one another. We cannot have a situation where people are producing and then, at the end of the day, they are having difficulty getting those onions sold. We are stopping ourselves from achieving our potential by not making the appropriate arrangements.”

(RR)