Tomato scribe laments over fake greenhouse, hybrid seeds price

The National Secretary, National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mallam Sani Danladi The National Secretary, National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mallam Sani Danladi

The National Secretary, National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mallam Sani Danladi has expressed sadness over the sale of fake green-houses to many farmers in the state just as he condemned the hike prices of hybrid seeds being sold by merchants.

Danladi disclosed this sad development to Food Farm News saying tomato farmers in Kano state are suffering at the hands of unfaithful people who are taking advantage of farmers by selling to them fake green-houses even at exorbitant prices, saying unscrupulous people are cheating farmers by selling fake green leather as green-houses for their high demand to ensure standard production.

The tomato scribe also complained of the high cost of hybrid tomato seeds, saying it is too exorbitant as farmers had no choice based on its high yield potential to the Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) as it can give 3-4 times the yield of the OPV at a great cost with the same agronomics practices.

He commended the effort of some Federal Government projects like the APPEALs, FADAMA of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) with Raw Material Research Development Council (RMARD), saying they have been very helpful in terms of hybrid seeds and other inputs for the cultivation of tomatoes.

APPEALs project for instance purchase a cottage tomato processing plant for women group just as youths were employed to take over the operation while the administration aspect is being taken care of by the women because of the education.