By Olakunle Olafioye
Tomatoes’ season of waste is here. The lamentations of tomato farmers in the country are beginning to assume a deafening decibel as the produce hits its season of glut.
Reports from across the country last week indicated that tomatoes farmers’ trepidation over possibility of incurring huge losses this harvest season heightened as the price of the produce in the market has crashed by over 50 per cent.
In Gombe State, tomatoes and pepper farmers are reportedly rueing the crash in the price of tomato, claiming that there was 90 per cent price slash compared to what obtained a few weeks earlier.
A report by NAN showed that a big basket of tomatoes was sold for ₦1,000 in Bula, a community in Akko Local Government Area of the state as against ₦10, 000 which the commodity was sold for in the community two weeks ago, which represents a 90 per cent drop in price.
Alhaji Saleh Maikudi, the Chairman of the Tomato Farmers Association in Bula community was quoted to have put the average losses of farmers per basket of tomato at N9, 000 while he put the loss per bag of bell of pepper at N30, 000.
A bag of bell of pepper had reportedly gone for ₦40,000 two weeks ago in the same community while a basket of tomatoes sold for N10, 000.
Also in the South where farmers are equally lamenting their losses over the highly perishable commodities, Sunday Sun gathered that prices of tomatoes and pepper have ridiculously nosedived to the anguish of farmers who claimed their returns might be insufficient to compensate for their sweat and inputs at the end of the season.
A tomato farmer at Owode Obafemi Local Government Area of Ogun State, Pa Nojimu Dauda said that tomatoes farmers are at the mercy of buyers who are taking advantage of tomato glut since the produce is highly perishable.
His words: “Tomato farmers know that buyers are always the king during harvest season because we (farmers) know the consequences of not releasing the produce at giveaway prices. Tomatoes and peppers are extremely perishable products so farmers have to pander to the bargaining power of the buyer if they do not want to suffer bigger losses.”
Pa Dauda said that the farm price of a basket of tomatoes could go for as low as N6,000 as against the average of N20, 000 which it went for some weeks ago.
He noted that the situation was becoming increasingly frustrating as farmers were sometimes compelled to resort to persuading buyers to patronise them.
Some few weeks back, consumers of tomatoes in the couhtry had lamented the scarcity of the food item resulting in significant increase in its price with most families having to substitute it with a rather unsuitable alternative recipe in their menu. Fruits and vegetables such as carrots and cucumbers were used in place of tomatoes as the price of tomatoes skyrocketed beyond the reach of most Nigerian households.
A basket of tomatoes which was sold between N30, 000 and N45, 000 earlier in the year shockingly skyrocketed to between N100,000 to N120, 000, an increase of 70 per cent to 75 per cent, forcing retailers to raise the price of the smallest of their measuring plates containing about 10 pieces of tomatoes to N1,000 from N200.
A dealer in tomatoes and pepper in Alagbado area of Lagos State, Mrs Fatimo Yunusa said although there was an appreciable improvement in the availability and prices of tomatoes in the state now compared to the situation almost two months ago, the price of tomatoes, in particular, would crash further as northern farmers flood the southern market with their brand of tomatoes whose season, she noted, is gradually setting in.
“The tomatoes we have now are largely the Yoruba, although the Hausa brand is also coming out because we are just at the onset of its season. That is why we are experiencing an improvement in the pricing of tomatoes now compared to what we witnessed around May, June and July.
“The basket of tomatoes which I bought for N27, 000 yesterday cost about N55, 000 to N65, 000 in June and July. It is more likely that the price of tomatoes, being a seasonal produce, drops further as more farmers in the North harvest their tomatoes,” she said.
Mrs Bimpe Ganiu, a housewife, recalled her frustration over what she described as the unimaginable hike in the prices of pepper and tomatoes a few months ago.
“The increase in the prices of tomatoes and pepper were so much that one would spend almost the same amount for the fish or meat one needed to make a pot of soup to buy the tomatoes and pepper one needed to make the same pot of soup,” she recalled.
Mrs Ganiu expressed relief that the situation was returning to normal as most traders now sell tomatoes for as low as N200 as against what obtained a few months back when the price of the smallest measuring plate of tomatoes sold for N1,000.
“I bought N1,000 worth of tomatoes this last weekend to prepare a pot of soup and I still used part of it to make some rice stew; that was not possible some weeks ago because N1,000 worth of tomatoes was barely enough to make rice stew for the meal of an average-sized family,” she claimed.
Tomato Growers Association of Nigeria (TOGAN) had blamed the recent scarcity of tomatoes in the country and the concomitant price hike of the produce on the infestation of tomato farms by Tuta absoluta, one of the most devastating pests, affecting tomato plantations.
The Kano State Chairman of the association, Sani Danladi who raised the alarm said the pest, which is also known as Tomato Ebola, wreaked havoc on tomato farms across most northern states, including Kano, Kastina, Jigawa and Kaduna.
Following the alarm of the infestation, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, in a reaction said the government had swung into action to arrest the situation.
Kyari, in a statement via his X handle, corroborated the reason adduced by TOGAN and assured that the government was already taking necessary actions to combat further spread of the devastating pest to other parts of the country.
But an agriculturalist, Mr Joel Amadi believes that the government still needs to do more to save farmers from perennial losses occasioned by pest infestation and produce glut as currently being lamented by tomato farmers in the country.
Alhaji Saleh Maikudi, the chairman of Tomato Farmers Association in Bula, Gombe and Pa Dauda, a tomato farmer in Owode Obafemi LGA of Ogun State, were unanimous in their opinion that farmers would continue to incur post-harvest losses unless government at federal and state levels are ready to come to their aid.
Amadi said that farmers in the country need more support from the government beyond occasional interventions during emergence situations as witnessed recently.
He said: “The major lesson from our recent experience regarding the unprecedented hike in the price of tomatoes is that governments at all levels need to provide processing facilities to prevent wastages and post-harvest losses.
“This is the time when tomatoes should be processed into paste and stored ahead of the period when it would be out of season and scarce.”
