A staple of West African cuisine, onions are among the sub-region’s most widely grown horticultural products and a key driver of intra-regional trade, largely through informal cross-border flows. 

The Nigerian Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association (NOPPM) suspended shipments to Ghana in early April amid trade tensions. While the dispute has since been resolved, the episode exposed the fragility of commerce in West Africa, where informal networks dominate.

A 2025 report by the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights the central role of onions in regional food market integration and the complexity of intra-regional onion trade.

Titled Intra-regional Food Trade in West Africa, the report notes that onions rank eighth among the most traded food products in the sub-region, behind palm oil, live cattle, frozen fish, bouillon cubes, corn, rice and instant coffee.

The report also identifies onions as the leading horticultural product in West African intra-regional trade. Despite their importance, onion trade flows remain difficult to quantify precisely, given the limitations of statistical systems across the region, where a large share of exchanges falls outside formal data collection. According to SWAC, roughly 69% of intra-regional onion trade in West Africa takes place through informal channels.

A market structured around Niger

Niger is West Africa's dominant onion supplier, accounting for approximately 68% of regional exports, according to the report. That near-monopoly reflects the country's position as the leading producer in the sub-region, with an annual harvest estimated at close to 2 million metric tons according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, and its sustained self-sufficiency in onions.

Benin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria are among the other major players contributing to intra-regional onion exports in West Africa.

On the import side, Ghana is the primary destination for onion shipments from West African countries, with Niger as its top supplier. Onion imports from Niger alone are equivalent to half of Ghana's domestic production, according to SWAC.

Other significant importers of intra-regional onion flows include Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin and Togo. "About one third of onion imports in the region come from a West African country. This figure is skewed, however, by the case of Senegal, the leading West African importer at 27% of the total, but three quarters of whose imports come from the Netherlands. By contrast, Ghana, Benin and Togo source their onions primarily from Niger, for roughly three quarters, two thirds and half of their respective onion imports," the report notes.

Seasonal flows at the heart of food supply balances

Like other agricultural commodities such as tomatoes, regional onion trade follows pronounced seasonal patterns. Trade flows intensify during the Niger harvest season, supplying urban markets in deficit countries. During periods of lower production, trade shifts to alternative sources of supply.

This dynamic helps stabilize supply and prices on urban markets, where the origin of onions consumed varies by season. Onions thus emerge as a key stabilizing commodity, offsetting spatial and temporal production imbalances across the region.

Against this backdrop, trade disputes such as those observed between Nigeria and Ghana do not merely disrupt bilateral exchanges. They threaten the broader equilibrium of regional supply chains and expose the vulnerability of a system that depends heavily on informal flows, whose smooth functioning directly affects price stability and urban populations' access to basic foodstuffs.

Stéphanas Assocle