Why Nigeria spends $170m yearly to import tomatoes

The revelation by the Minster of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, that Nigeria’s Federal Government alone spends over $170 million yearly to import tomatoes has drawn negative reactions from both the farmers and other sectors.

Enelamah, at a media chat in his office recently stated: “Nigeria imports an average of 150,000 metric tons of tomato concentrate per annum, valued at $170 million mostly due to inadequacy in capacity to produce tomato concentrate.

“As I speak, the current demand for fresh tomato is estimated at about 2.45 million metric tons per annum (MTPA), while the country produces only about 1.8 million.

“Despite the supply gap, about 40 per cent of fresh tomato produced in the country is lost due to wastage arising from poor post-harvest handling and inadequate storage,” he further disclosed

But the organised sector, made up big-time farmers, in their reaction to the disclosure blamed the government for paying lips survive to the call for agriculture to be made the second source of its economic growth, after oil.

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The North West Zone of the Association of Nigeria Farmers and Cooperative (ANFC), Alhaji Mohammed Zarki, said his association had on several occasions come up with a way out of the problem.

He stressed that it is only when policy makers take investment on agriculture very seriously that Nigeria would no longer have to depend on imported food products.

“There is no shortage of any agricultural produce in Nigeria; rather what is the issue is lack of facilities for preservation, especially for perishable products like tomatoes, and other water-based fruits.

“In other countries in Africa, what is done is that at a point in farming season, government would buy off the produce from farmers and release them at the time of plantation; but here, we throw them away and hope that by next season, we will be having more bumper harvest.

“To worsen the situation, some of the local firms producing tomato puree have all closed shop, because imported ones are lower in price.”

It would be recalled that two major firms into tomato production: Erico and Dangote companies, in late 2016, shut down their factories given the effect of recession.

Though Dangote Group later said that it only temporarily stopped work to enable it effect some changes, there is yet to be an improvement from the outfit since then.

Mr. Gilbert Elemouh, a mechanized farmer said there would never be a time that Nigeria will be self –sufficient until everybody’s attention on the oil and gas is redirected to the agriculture sector.

“No farmer can afford the cost of having silos and giant refrigerating system that could house the quantity of perishable food items, season after season.

“But if half of the resources spent in search of oil in areas where they are not are spent on agriculture, Nigeria will save more than $1.5 billion yearly on importation of food items, as recorded in the National Bureau of Statistics,” Elemouh said.

 

 

 

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