(3 minutes read)
· With the advent of corporate houses including Dangote group
in agriculture, tomato production will get a boost in the country.
· The Nigerian government also made policy tweaks to promote
tomato production, particularly processing of that into paste.
With the advent of corporate houses including Dangote group in
agriculture, tomato production will get a boost in the country.
With an annual production of 2.3million tones, Nigeria is Africa’s
second largest producer in tomatoes. At the same time a PWC report
points out that Nigeria is the continent’s third largest importer of
tomato paste, entailing a bill of US$360million per year on imports
annually. Importantly, the new administration in the country is
giving a lot of importance to agriculture, particularly cultivation of
rice, wheat and of course, tomatoes to make the country less dependent
on food imports.
Involvement of corporate houses in agriculture has given a boost to
agriculture. Dangote invested US$20 million to start a
tomato-processing plant in Kano. The plant can produce 1,200 tons of
tomato paste daily. But there were hiccups when the plant opened in
2016, engaging more than 5000 farmers. However, the venture, which
started with much fanfare was closed in 2017. Although, later, it was
reopened in 2019 uncertainty prevailed over the farmers. They mostly
kept away from cultivating tomatoes in large acreage. Now the plant is
fully operational in February this year and the farmers are keen to
bring more acreage under cultivation of the crop.
Lagos-based food manufacturer Erisco Foods is also in the fray. A
tomato paste plant opened in Lagos in February 2016, closed due to
shortage of the dollars to import machine spare parts and raw
materials after Nigeria slumped into a recession.
GBfoods, a Spanish company, which produces Gino Tomato Paste in tins
and sachets, is also in operation in Kaduna state. It has a capacity
of 30 tons per day. It has a 30-hectare pilot farm growing more than
15 different varieties, from where the company sources the tomatoes.
The Nigerian government also made policy tweaks to promote tomato
production, particularly processing of that into paste. The Ministry
of Industry, Trade and Investment in 2017 announced a policy aimed at
limiting imports of tomato paste and boosting domestic production.
Tomato paste was allowed to import only through certain ports, sale
restrictions, such as not allowing wholesale and increase in the
import duty etc are some of the steps taken by the government to give
a measure of protection to the local industry. This was accompanied
by removal of import duty on greenhouse equipment for the production
of tomatoes.
