Tomato is a glossy red or yellow sharp-tasting fruit which is eaten cooked or raw. It is eaten as vegetable, in salads or as a savoury food. It's a special ingredient in preparing a delicious meal, especially jollof rice in Nigeria. Some Nigerians who hate too much pepper in soup also use it to reduce spicy hot taste of soup.

According to Nigeria's Ministry of Agriculture, Nigeria produces about 1.5 million tons of tomatoes a year. Nigeria is the 14th largest producer of tomatoes in the world. It is also the largest producer of tomatoes in sub-Saharan Africa. Tomatoes are mostly produced in Northern part of Nigeria followed by Southwest part of Nigeria. Farmers from these zones take their tomatoes to markets where Nigerians can easily buy them. Though it's only 'tomato Hausa' (tomatoes from North) that always available throughout the year in the markets. Tomatoes from Southwest are only available for a while in the market.

However, some Nigerians prefer imported tomato pastes to raw tomatoes in Nigerian market. Nigeria is the eighth largest importer of tomato paste in the world after Iraq and Japan. This prompted Dangote to establish Dangote Farms Tomato Processing Factory with $20 million tomato paste facility which started operations two months ago. The tomato plant was established to help reduce wastage of the fruit in the country and to also minimise the amount of imported tomato pastes in the Nigerian market.

Although Nigeria is the 14th largest producer of tomatoes in the world, Nigerians always experience scarcity of tomatoes in dry season. It is because the production of tomatoes always reduce due to irregular rainfall in the season. This was the thought of many Nigerians when the scarcity of tomatoes surface, while some believed Dangote was the reason for tomatoes shortage in the market because of his tomato paste plant. Surprisingly, Dangote Farms Tomato Processing Factory also stopped operations due to scarcity of tomatoes.

Meanwhile, there have been different rumours on the cause of present scarcity of tomatoes in Nigeria. The quantity of tomatoes which was sold for 20 or 50 naira is now 200 or 500 and a basket of tomatoes that was 5,000 - 6,000 naira is now 40,000 - 42,000 naira in the market. The real reason for the scarcity is an attack by a moth called TUTA ABSOLUTA which is called TOMATO EBOLA disease by locals. The pest has destroyed crops in Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Plateau states. The attack has affected this year harvest of tomatoes in the major tomatoes-produced states.

Kaduna state which contributes strongly to Nigeria's overally production of tomatoes has already seen losses of millions of dollars. This is because many people depend on tomato farming for their livelihood in the state. Tomato crisis actually started because of the recent fuel shortage but TUTA ABSOLUTA worsen it. Another problem now is people are afraid to buy tomatoes because nobody knows which tomatoes are save to eat. Some people have started buying imported tinned/sachet tomatoes, while some are using onion to replace tomatoes. Federal government need to prevent the disease from spreading further as early as possible.

Written by Mayowa Emmanuel Oladele

Source: http://www.hub201.com/facts-about-tomato-production-and-scarcity-in-nigeria/

Nice report, thanks for the education. Hopefully our farmers/govt are able to deal with this in good time.

Nice post. thanks for the education. I believe that we need innovation in the agricultural sector. there are products like OmoAlata and Obe sauce by young startups that have attempted to solve this problem, but they are still at the very early stage. see here for my review of Obe sauce https://startupdemands.com/2016/05/27/the-moment-of-truth-the-first-time-i-had-obe-sauce/