In a recent statement, Myk Berewa, the Director of Communications at the office of the President, attributed the increasing prices of onions in Sierra Leone to various global factors.
He pointed out that the ongoing War in Ukraine, along with other contributing elements, has led to a surge in the cost of this essential cooking ingredient for Sierra Leoneans.
Traders, who depend on peddling goods, expressed their concern about the escalating prices, with a bag of onions now costing around Le1100.
Responding to a Facebook post by Dr. John Idriss Lahai, a well-known whistleblower, Berewa clarified that the conflict in Ukraine had a ripple effect on the onion prices in Sierra Leone.
Moreover, Berewa highlighted additional factors that impacted the onion market. He mentioned the floods in Pakistan, which damaged onion reserves, severe droughts in North Africa, and unfavorable weather conditions in Morocco. These incidents collectively contributed to the current onion price surge.
Berewa further pointed out the global impact of such price hikes by referencing the crisis in the Philippines, where the cost of onions has exceeded the total sum of a meal due to natural disasters damaging their crops in 2022.
As a result of the rising onion prices, many citizens in Sierra Leone are embracing large-scale farming as a way to navigate the fluctuating and increasingly expensive market prices. The situation has led to a growing interest in self-sustenance and less dependency on unpredictable market fluctuations.
