Starting An Onion Farming Business Plan
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Onion farming is a lucrative business, providing income for millions of people, but there are some essential decisions you need to make before you venture into the onion farming business. You have to make a decision on how many acres you want to farm, which type of onions you will farm, which season you are going to plant your onions, and your target market. These choices will be affected by the amount of capital you have, the size & needs of your target market. If you do not have a lot of capital, you can always start small and grow your onion farming business overtime. You also need to carry out market research (Who are you going to sell the onions to? At what price?) and write a bulb onion business plan before you venture into the business. Onions are also known as bulb onions, due to their shape.
BUSINESS MODEL
Options To Choose From:
Broadly, you can sell your onions to wholesalers or retailers. You can also serve as the wholesaler and or retailer. You can sell them directly to consumers. You have considerable flexibility in how you can sell your onions. Your scale of onion production will determine which option is best. For example, if you are doing onion farming on a large scale, the direct to consumer business model can be too tasking. Meaning wholesale would be ideal.
Find A Balance:
The wholesale approach is the most hassle-free but might not fetch high enough prices. Other approaches such as retailer and direct to consumer can fetch higher prices. However, they are more demanding in terms of time, resources, and effort. You can always find a balance so that you enjoy the best of each approach. Incorporate selling online since it can be much more effective.
LAND FOR ONION FARMING BUSINESS
Good bulb onion production starts with good land selection. Onions can grow well on a wide range of soil types, including sand soil, fine textured clays, however good fertile sandy loam soil is usually the best soil type. This is because it has a low sulphur content and is well drained. It allows normal development of the onion bulb, and has a good capacity of holding water. Another important factor to consider is the pH of the soil, as it should be ideally in the range of 5.0-6.8 to enable the optimum growth of the bulb onions. The land for bulb onion farming should also have the right soil structure. The soil for onion farming must permit adequate root growth to support the plant and supply water, oxygen and mineral nutrients and must be free of toxic elements. It is important that before you start farming onions on your farm, you check whether the soil is suitable for onion farming. Your onion production business plan should take into account the cost of purchasing or renting the land.
MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT FOR ONION FARMING
Land preparation must be properly done to ensure the soil is ready for the onions. The range of machinery and equipment needed for your onion farming business depends on the scale of production. For small scale this can be done using hand-held equipment whereas for medium to large scale heavy machinery such as tractors and the like may be needed. Machinery and equipment needed include tractors, harvesters, boom sprayers, fertilizer spreader equipment, irrigation equipment, spray equipment, diggers, scales, ridgers, bins etc. Most farmers usually hire big machinery like tractors when they want to use them, rather than purchasing them as they are expensive.
Adequate water supply is also important meaning that irrigation is necessary. Onions can thrive quite well by the use of drip irrigation thus making the required amount of water less.
We the Onion Doctor, we offer drip irrigation and installation depending on your acreage as follows:
1 acre =170,000ksh.
1/2 acre=85,000ksh.
1/4 acre=43,000ksh.
1/8 acre=22,000ksh.
BULB ONION VARIETIES
Onion varieties are classified into three categories as short-day, intermediate-day and long-day types and this reflects the hours of sunlight (day light) which will trigger bulb formation. Short day varieties need 10 – 12 hours of daylight , intermediate-day varieties need 12-14 hours of daylight while long day varieties need 14 – 16 hours of daylight. Examples of onion varieties include Texas Grano, Copra, Walla Walla, and Red Burgundy.
ONION FARMING INPUTS: You require various farming inputs when doing onion farming. The onion farming can be started using onion seeds or seedlings. It is important that you purchase your onion seeds from us Onion Doctor, we offer certified, high-quality seeds and seedlings that gives you full potential growth. Also Fertilizers and Herbicides are important in the growth of onions to prevent Pest and Diseases. Some of the low-cost measures to fight these issues can be spreading thin films of sand around onion plants, mulching, crop rotation and incorporating humus into the soil.
Pests: Some of the common onion pests are cut worms, maggots, flies, leaf miners, thrips, and mites. The composition of onions works to ward off several potential pests. Onions are rich in sulphur and that wards off pests. Regular inspection of your onion plants is imperative. When it comes to pest infestations, the signs will typically be on the leaves. It can be things like spots, larvae, or discolouration, amongst others.
Diseases: Most diseases that affect onions occur due to more or less the same factors. If the weather or the general state of the environment is characterised by moisture and heat, diseases tend to occur. The most common onion diseases are fungal and bacterial ones; fungal ones being the most common. Examples of onion diseases are white rot, downy mildew, leaf blight, smut, pink root, and fusarium basal rot, amongst others.
Harvesting: Onions should be harvested roughly 4 months after planting them. Harvesting method mostly depends on your scale of production. For large scale you would have to use mechanical/machinery methods. For small to medium scale, with enough hands, you can use manual methods. Find a way to loosen the soil immediately around an onion plant. A garden folk is often the best for this. When the soil is sufficiently loose, you can gently pull out the onion bulbs. Then you shake them to dislodge soil attached to the onion bulb.
Storage: Before storage, you must give your onions 14 days or so to dry outside. Do this with the top leafy part still attached to the onion bulbs. Wherever you store your onions must satisfy 4 vital attributes. The place must be dark, have good ventilation, be cool, and must be dry. That is why it is common for some onion farmers to use cellar, garages or sheds.
Onion Doctor supports small holder farmers across Africa with quality and affordable Onion and Garlic seedlings, Onion seedlings, Farm planning services, Soil testing, Drip irrigation installation and maintenance, Agronomic support, Onion and Garlic value pack, Farm management, E-extension and on-farm training for farmers to optimize on yields and get maximum profits.