Red Sanga F1 onion varieties. The onion variety matures in 90 days after trasplnating giving farmers early access to market.

Farmers growing Red Sanga F1 onion variety stand to enjoy early maturity of about 90 allowing them reach to consumers early ahead of other famers growing other varieties such as Early Redmax F1 which take over three months to mature hence making more profits before the market if flooded with onions.

Red Sanga F1 onion variety which is produced by East Africa Seed Company Limited, a company involved in seed production and other services is also resistant to diseases such as purple blotch, tuber rust and common blight which will see farmers’ expenses on farm inputs like pesticides reduce increasing their income.

“Production per acre will increase and farmers will cut down in cost of management as the variety requires less attention to manage,” said EASeed agronomist, Chege Macharia.

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Macharia who is also the company’s sales and marketing manager said that farmers can achieve production of between 20 to 24 metric tonnes per acre of big size, globe shape and deep red bulb onions.

In addition farmers and traders can also sell it for a long time until it runs out of the stock because of its longer shelf life.

“Red Sanga F1 is not fast perishable, it has a longer storage ability of 4-6 months hence farmers and traders alike have nothing to worry about how long they may stay in stock,” said Macharia.

“The globe shape of this onion variety makes it highly acceptable in the market in addition to its storage allowance of up to six months.”

Bulb onions normally do well in dry highlands with well drained and aerated soils. According to the company the preferable pH should be at 4.5 to 6.5 which can be complimented by use of manure.

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“While applying fertilisers farmers should use 150 to 200kg per acre. However, they should be cautious while using nitrogenous fertilisers that should not exceed 75kgs per acre to avoid acidifying the soils,” said Macharia.

Generally the best thing about onions is that they are always on demand and consumed in every household on daily basis, ideally you’ll never go wrong with onion farming .The prices of onions fluctuate from the lows of Sh40 a kilo at the farm gate to the high of Sh60-80 a kilo at the farm depending on the season and variety planted.

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In 3 months an acre of most hybrid bulb onions will give a farmer an income of Sh800,000. After 90 days of transplanting the onions, they can produce a yield of 20,000kg of bulbs.

A kilogram of onions at market price goes at Sh40 translating to Sh800,000 from the 20,000 kilograms and minus the average cost of production which is Ksh150, 000, a farmer can pocket  Sh650, 000 net income per acre.