Insecurity, market hinders tomato production.

The high level of insecurity in the northern part of the country has been described absurd, as it has deterred the economic development, and job creation for thousand s of youths in the northern part.  Without being faced with insecurity and insufficient facilities the tomato industry is enough to reduce the high rate of unemployment and also create wealth for the youths. As little attention is going to tomato production, tomatoes production is met with a lot of problems, the number one problem after farmers’ production is the low market response which affects pricing of the commodity, and farmers rarely cover their production cost. 

All this assertion is according to the findings conducted by group of scientists from Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR)  Ahamudu Bello University Zaria (ABU) as the finding reported a lot is produce, which means we have no enough processing and storage facilities for value addition thereby making people to pay more for little tomatoes.

The report’s finding also reflected negative effect of the production fluctuation and consumption during the off season as the importation of concentrates are on the high side to produce tomato paste thereby creating jobs in the importing country of Chine and the rest. But assuming there are enough processing facilities on ground, producers can produce three or four times in a year, after which the remaining fresh tomato fruit will be moved to the factory for crushing and also convertion  concentrate that will be sold to other countries that have factories for further processing  into ketchup, tin tomatoes and others.

Food Farm News spoke with a tomato seller, Mrs ola who said the lack of storage facilities has affected the small scale tomatoes sellers we get less tomato for a very exorbitant price, which also makes us to sell at a high price. The sector requires more attention; for more wealth to be created with tomatoes I have been able to solve lots of financial problem, the fruit is very promising and should be given all necessary attention it needs to develop” said mrs ola. 

Food Farm News  spoke with the Deputy Director FDA  Horticulture, Mr. Kanu Micheal O.E,  said “after going round the country on inspection, it was discovered that most of the factorywere not functioning, in fact  a major factories, Vetrus tomatoes is no longer in the market, after visiting the company to know why they are out of market, we found out that the company really mean to move upward, they took loan, brought the needed facilities, started the installation of the facilities with their foreign counterparts , but insurgency came, and because the  factory is located at the boundary between Gombe State and Borno State, the foreign partners had to leave, but Vetrus was left to decide if they will guarantee the safety of their foreign partners. The equipment is presently left rusting away without technical partners to install them.

The factory alone, when it takes off will boost the tomatoes industry and the value chain will be enough to engage and create employment for 2/3 of the youths in the Northeast, because the company was not just ready to install equipments but also increase their capacity from 450 to 1,050 metric tons of paste.

“Despite changes faced  by tomatoes the federal government created a staple crop processing zone and that of the horticulture, tomatoes in particular was situated in kano state- kadawa which, produces about 50% of tomatoes in Nigeria and the tomatoes processing is a government enabled situation, where government have the environment , good road network, water and everything needed for the private sector is to come with their equipments, install and start processing”.

The good news is that Dancer, the Dangote group has set up a tomato processing factory of 1000 metric tons of fresh fruits per day, it is completed and presently the Federal Government and the Dangote group are working together and in no distant time the tomatoes farmers can smile for off takers.

Last year the tomatoes growers association and tomatoes farmers in kano were given 1ton of hybrid seed free of charge by the ministry, just to show them that the use of high quality seeds will increase yield, and help you to reduce cost, make profits and also undergo training, after which their capacity were build to make sure they know how to use the seed inorder to obtain to obtain high yield for the first time.  Some of them reported 30 ton per hectare, more than the 18 ton they had gotten earlier, before given the hybrid seed”. 

The seed was not only taken to kano state, but the  tomato hybrid seeds was also  taken  to about 12 states . kano got the highest because it is the major producer of tomatoes in the country and was  picked as the tomato producing zone by the ministry and dangote. It is expected that the insurgency in the Northeast of the country will soon come to an end, which will increase productivity. 

A reliable source also disclosed that they are about creating a tomatoes farmer  interface , which will consist the processor, the farmer, the government, the private sector and the input dealers, to come together to discuss what it will take the country to produce  more.