Why Is Senegal “Hooked” on DutcH onions

A Dutch friend sent me an article laughing. It said that Senegal was once again the world’s number one destination for Dutch onions. He asked me, with a mix of curiosity and judgment: “Why you guys buying so much onions?”

I answered that we consume a lot of onions, that local production is very concentrated in time, and that we struggle to store what we produce. That was true, but very incomplete. His question reveals a deeper paradox: how can a country investing heavily in strengthening its onion production still see its imports rise year after year?

Understanding the Paradox: Explanations and Insights

Senegal produces more onions than before. Yields are improving, farmers are becoming more professional, and agricultural policies have placed onions at the center of their priorities. At the same time, consumption is rising, driven by demographics, urbanization, and the central role of onions in urban cuisine.

Yet, despite the progress, most of the local production remains concentrated over a few months. Post-harvest losses are significant. Stocks are depleted quickly. Imports return every year to fill the gap. Production and imports increase in parallel. The country’s food system has grown faster than its storage and market-regulation capacity.

From a qualitative standpoint, many people see rainfall as the main factor behind Senegal’s onion-production issues. But some regions of the Netherlands receive as much or even more annual rainfall than Senegal, depending on the year. The main difference lies in moisture management after harvest. Dutch onions are dried, ventilated, graded, and stored in controlled environments that stabilize their moisture levels and firmness. The dominant varieties in Senegal tolerate residual humidity far less, which limits their shelf life.

At Afrikamart, we observed a reality in the market: when local and imported onions were available at the same time, several professional buyers preferred the Dutch ones because, according to them, the local onions released too much water when cut. In a demanding urban market, this alone can shift purchasing decisions.

Why Dutch Onions Dominate the Market

The consistency of supply also plays a central role. Importers know they can get steady volumes, uniform sizes, and continuous availability week after week. Retailers and professional kitchens cannot afford disruptions or sudden variations in quality. Dutch onions meet this requirement for stability.

The economic environment further reinforces these dynamics. Seasonal import bans followed by rapid reopenings during periods of tension create permanent uncertainty. This instability discourages large-scale investments in storage and, paradoxically, maintains dependence on a foreign source that is more predictable.

What Challenges Does This Really Reveal?

The challenges are multiple and interconnected:

• Agronomic challenge: dominant varieties are not designed for long storage.

• Logistical challenge: humidity is poorly controlled from field to market.

• Economic challenge: unstable market rules create unintended side effects.

• Cultural challenge: onions play a central role in Senegalese cuisine, making substitution difficult. Yet adjustments are possible. When potato prices rose, we saw many households shift to local sweet potatoes. Given how important onions are in Senegal’s culinary identity, total substitution is neither realistic nor desirable – but partial, temporary substitution combined with better supply-chain management should be considered.

What Paths Can Be Explored Without Pretending There Is a Single Solution?

The answer is not only about increasing volumes. It lies in overall coherence.

• Rethinking varieties to favor those that store better.

• Strengthening moisture control after harvest.

• Stabilizing import rules to give producers visibility.

• Extending the harvest season through controlled geographic diversification.

• Understanding culinary uses and their margin for adaptation.

Above all, rethinking what we expect from a resilient food system: not rigid self-sufficiency, but a smart balance between local production, conservation, diversified supply sources, and consumption behavior.

Conclusion

The role Dutch onions play in Senegal goes far beyond the onion value chain itself. It reflects a food system in transition, where local production is increasing but moisture control, post-harvest quality, market regulation, and culinary habits are evolving at different speeds. Persistent dependence on imports does not reflect a lack of will or a failure of farmers. It highlights the need to rethink coherence across the system: the varieties we grow, how we store them, the role of imports as a complement, and the real weight of culinary preferences in daily trade-offs.

If the subject deserves serious attention, it also deserves nuance. No country guarantees its food sovereignty by opposing local production to imports. Resilient systems rely on a deliberate, transparent balance of multiple supply sources, multiple timelines, and multiple consumption behaviors. The question is not whether to eliminate imports entirely, but to build an environment where they become a strategic choice rather than a systemic necessity.

It is in our collective ability to connect production, storage, markets, and consumption that the most promising levers lie. And it is likely there that the future place of Senegalese onions in their own domestic market will be determined.