· *Minister says there
increase in quantity of food produced
Tomato |
Indications
have emerged that Dangote Tomato Processing Plant and three other firms may
commence operations soon following the resolve by the Nigerian Customs Service
to commence implementation of the New Tomato Production Policy. The Vice
President of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), Emmanuel Ijewere disclosed
this recently in Abuja.
Mr.
Ijewere who spoke at the AGRA MIRA Nigeria Project stocktaking workshop said the
tomato policy should ensure that importers pay higher duty for tomato paste
importation, with a tariff of $1,500 per metric tonne of tomato paste imported.
He
said the move would encourage backward integration and bring indigenous
companies at par to effectively compete with importers of tomato paste.
While
lamenting that most of the tomato processing companies initially shut down
because the Nigerian Customs was not implementing the policy, he said through
their engagement under the Micro Reforms (policy, law and regulations) for
African Agribusiness, they were able to push for the implementation of the
policy.
He
pointed out that although the policy was approved by the Federal Executive
Council last year, it was not implemented by the Nigerian Customs until Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo compelled them, adding that from January 2019, the
factories would commence operations.
He
said tomatoes grown in the country were not being converted into paste, as it
was cheaper for the tomato processing plants to import from abroad as the yield
coming from farmers is not enough to serve the tomato factories and most of
them rely on China and Italy for the paste, adding that none of the 12
factories that engaged with them were able to process tomatoes from Nigeria, as
most of their factories were designed to import the paste from overseas, add
water and then package.
Ijewere
who alleged that most of the tomato processing companies initially were
shutdown because the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) was not implementing the
policy, which made it cheaper to import tomato paste from China and Italy noted
that the move would encourage backward integration and bring indigenous
companies at par to effectively compete with importers of tomato paste.
The
president said that the policy was approved by the Federal Executive Council
last year, but it was not implemented by NCS until Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
compelled them to do so.
Ijewere
said between 2016 and 2017, efforts were directed on rice, while in 2018, effort
was on tomato and in 2019 efforts would be targeted at maize and soya value
chains.
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