December 5, 2017//-In April this year, the Federal Government announced a new tomato policy to promote local production of fresh tomato fruits, increase local production of tomato concentrate and also reduce post-harvest losses estimated at about 40 per cent of the total annual production.
In addition, the policy restricted the importation of tomato concentrates to the seaports.
The restriction was set to address the abuse of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), stop the importation of tomatoes preserved with vinegar or acetic acid, and increased the tariff on tomato concentrate to 50 per cent with an additional levy of $1,500 per metric ton.
It is also on record that Nigeria imports an average of 150,000 metric tons of tomato concentrate per annum valued at $170million principally due to low capacity to produce tomato concentrate.
Nigeria’s current demand for fresh tomato is estimated at about 2.4million metric tons per annum whereas the country produces about 1.8million metric tonnes per annum.
However, the implementation of the new policy, which was expected to commence in May 2017, has not had any significant effect. Some stakeholders in the industry who spoke to INDEPENDENT on the implementation at the end of the Agra Innovate West Africa exhibition in Lagos submitted that the country stands to gain from the policy when all issues affecting everyone along the value chain are effectively resolved.
They argued that since the expected impact is yet to be felt, it is imperative for the formulated policies to be fully implemented.
Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice President Nigeria Agribusiness Group, (NABG), observed that the first challenge tomato industry is facing is that those that have been involved in the processing of tomato paste in Nigeria have turned out to be a few highly placed persons and groups.
“It has been sad because they have not used one single tomato from Nigeria. They have depended on those countries and the tomato they have been bringing in is about 28-30 per cent tomato, so what you put in your jollof rice is about 28 per cent to 30 per cent,”
Alleging that huge profits are made from the arrangements, he expressed optimism since the government has woken up from its slumber it was just natural that the importers would fight back, saying that bulk of the tomatoes find its way into the country through land borders.
“Now that the government has woken up and realised by coming up with a policy, they are fighting back while a lot of the items still come in through the borders; it is just like the same situation we have for chicken and rice. Even the tomato is easier for them to do but now things are beginning to change.”
Seeking for urgent solutions to the challenges, he suggested that what is of utmost importance is to improve the tomato value chain right from the point of seedlings.
Dissatisfied with the situation where only one per cent of farmers have access to improved seedlings, Ijewere said the circumstances in the end created a state of deprivation.
He noted that access to improved seedlings would lead to yields that are four times higher than that of farmers who were deprived of seedlings.
He attributed the lopsidedness to ignorance and poverty, regretting that new factories that are springing up and required tomatoes to operate are hampered because they do not have enough.
Decrying the low profitability of processed tomatoes, Ijewere attributed this to the high cost of processing and blamed the system for the inherent inefficiency in the sub sector.
“The tomato that will cost about N30 per kilo will be about N100 per kilo in Nigeria because of the inefficiency in the system that is now been addressed, so we started from the end; that means the government is saying no more of it coming in, we now have to work our way down to the farmers at the grassroots.”
Apparently not impressed over the huge wastages arising from the tomato value chain, he quantified the loss to be in the range of $15bilion annually. To address the loss, he said farmers need to be educated on the use of improved seedlings and adoption of best practices in order to enhance their yield per hectare.
Also speaking to INDEPENDENT, Abdulkarim Kaita, Managing Director Dangote farms Limited blamed the government for insincerity in the implementation of its various policies, and made reference to the textile sector where he attributed the poor implementation and protection of the industries to the collapse of the textile sector.
“Government refuses to enact policies to protect these local industries. We don’t have to go out of this country to look for investors the moment the polices are right we begin to see it ourselves and it is a very simple thing ones there is sincerity of purpose everything will fall in place,” he said.
He said part of that policy says no more importation of any tomato paste product through the land boarders only through the sea port but these importers have massively imported lots of tomato to fill their warehouses.
“Now the impact is not there until maybe by next year when they start running out of stock, that is when we will be able to access the impact, we are still watching as indigenous tomato processors, we have processed fresh tomato hoping that these people will come and buy from us but they have not because they have enough stock they have imported.
Speaking further, he said it is shocking to note that Nigeria, which is the highest importer of tomato paste, has only one tomato processing factory, stressing that Nigeria has the potential to grow the tomato that will be enough for this country and also to export.
According to him, the current study carried out by GEMS4 revealed that Nigeria has the potential to cultivate 6million tonnes of tomato in a year whereas the budget projection for China for this year was 5million tonnes.
However, he said the National Agency For Food And Drug Administration And Control, (NAFDAC), recently conducted a survey in Lagos markets on tomato paste we consume, and that the study revealed that 96.2 percent of the tomato paste in the market has failed the minimum quality standard required.
He said in China they have three types of tomato paste: one for the European market, another for the Asian market and the most substandard one for the African markets.
“What they do in these industries abroad is that most of the tomato paste is made of starch, not more than 10-20 per cent tomato and colour is added and then preservatives, this is what we consume,” he said.
Olatunde Oderinde, team leader, Market Development in the Niger Delta (MADE) said the country is yet to have a policy life cycle where every player in the industry is carried along and where their challenges are addressed holistically.
He said the country would only benefit from the tomato paste policy when all issues affecting all actors along the value chain are effectively resolved.
“Nigeria needs to work deliberately on policies that create inclusiveness. We need to sort out the issue of competitiveness to keep farmers productive and if we can provide them with a guaranteed market, the smallholder farmers will produce more.”
Independent.ng
