Nigeria Lose Out On Tomato Exportation

Despite being rated one of the leading producers of tomato in Africa, Nigeria is currently missing out among tomato exporting nations.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Abubakar, who disclosed this at the launch of HortiNigeria Project in Abuja recently, attributed the development to challenges of low yield resulting from poor seed type used by Nigerian farmers.
According to the Minister, Nigeria’s various ecologies, soil and climatic conditions are suitable for production of horticulture.
“The Nigerian climate confers an immense competitive advantage and potential to have a leading role in tomato production and trade,” Abubakar said.
He explained that the HortiNigeria initiative presents an opportunity to promote activities of the horticultural sub-sector, saying that the government is looking forward to catalysing increased productivity in the sector.
Abubakar said the project is expected to facilitate business to business linkage and partnership, as it seeks to empower over 60,000 smallholder farmers across the country.
The project awarded to International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) and its consortium partners, East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer (EWS-KT), Wageningen University and Research (WUR), and KIT Royal Tropical Institute, is implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Ogun and Oyo States, focusing on tomato, okra, onion, and pepper value chains.
In his remarks, Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry van Dijk, said the horticulture sector in Nigeria offers many opportunities as local market demand for vegetables largely exceeds local production, with an estimated supply gap of 13 million metric tons.
He noted that the project will contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive horticulture system in Nigeria.