To boost local production of tomato, Nigeria’s Government has approved the increase in tariffs on the importation of tomato paste into the country. It has also introduced tax holidays for local production amongst other incentives.
This is even as the government adopts new measures to reduce food prices and curb wastage of food produce in the country. The new measures may include transporting food produce through rail.
As part of approved measures and incentives to boost year round local production of tomato, the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday at its meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, approved the removal of tariff on the importation of Green House Equipment. It also approve the increase of tariff on tomato paste and powder as well as the finished product to discourage importation
Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelama, who briefed alongside ministers of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe, Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, told newsmen at the post FEC briefing that Nigerians who want to go into exclusive year round tomato farming can now import green house equipment at no extra cost. He said at the meeting council considered the memo which recommended a review of its policies in the tomato value chain and approved a set of measures to boost production and attract investment into the Nigerian tomato sub-sector.
“Most definitely we are not coming down, we are going to go up. We will be announcing what the new tariffs are but clearly there is a new set of tariff that will discourage dumping, you can take that to the bank” the minister said confirming the increase in the tariff on importation of tomato paste.
He further explained that council approved a set of measures to encourage farmers both in local production as well as to attract more investment into tomato farming, processing all the way, from the value chain to how tomato gets to our tables.
“They also include the use of both tariff and non tariff measures to address the issues Nigerians are most concerned about, which is the issue of dumping, issues around quality and the standards of what we consume” he said.
The government says as part of incentives to boost local production, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) will ensure that the production of tomato gets its pioneer status.
Enelama also said the ministry of agriculture as well as that of science and technology will work together to ensure seed quality while the Central Bank of Nigerian will continue facilitating the financing.
The FEC also approved the restriction of importation of finished tomato products that can be produced locally, even from the ECOWAS region.
Reports say tomato farms in major producing states like Kano, Kaduna, and Katsina have either shut down or suspended production due to unfavourable government policies. There have also been issues of dumping and wastage of the product which has as much as 75,000 farmers in Kano alone.
In terms of the things that will boost year round production of tomato, council approved zero duty on green house equipment removing the initial 20% tariff. All the newly approved policies will take effect immediately.
“These things will be rolled out right away, these are policies for this year we are going to use tariffs and levies as well to discourage imports of tomato paste and those levies will be used to develop the local industry just like we have down in the sugar and cement industry.
“We are also going to restrict the importation of finished products from other ECOWAS countries where products are dumped then transported across our borders, making sure those risky products don’t go through our land borders, if you want to import them you have to go through the sea” Enelemah said.
FEC also set up an inter-ministerial committee that will work with the private sector and with different stakeholders to make sure that the implementation of the policy itself it not only done transparently but also robustly to ensure that the objective of becoming self sufficient
in tomato within the next one or two years is achieved.
Council also received the interim report from the committee set up last week Wednesday to look into the hike in food prices, with recommendations that may crash the rising cost of food items.
The minister of Agric said the committee realised that the hike in cost is “not due to shortage but the high cost of transportation”.
According to him the mode of transporting food items across the country, with heavy trucks and the increase in price of diesel were noted as factors that led to increase in food prices.
He said the government had therefore, decided to start using railway wagons for the transportation of food items.
“So we considered the following alternatives: using railway wagons along the current railway network. As we did before when we moved cattle from North West to Lagos, we brought down the cost and avoided the multiple taxation on transporters by local governments which delay movement.
“We have decided to work with the state governments and the police to reduce delays.
“We are going to adapt what they have in Ivory Coast. Trucks carrying foods are given labels. In fact, in Ivory Coast, they cannot be stopped for more than 10 minutes anywhere.
“Even if something serious has happened, the security agencies will follow them to their destinations and come back to investigate whatever has happened” he said.
If the situation persists in the next few days, the government will be looking into its reserves to see what it can bring out to lower the prices because another bumper harvest will be coming up again at the end of March, Ogbeh said.
Council also considered and approved the construction of Ilorin-Omu Aran-Kabba Road, Section I in order to complement ongoing works on the Kabba-Egbe Road to link Kwara and Kogi States. The cost of the project is put at N21billion.
The second approval was for consultancy services for professionals to conduct line route studies, environmental social impact assessment and resettlement action plan as well environmental social management plan in order for us to access the Japanese International Corporation Agency’s loan to support TCN to continue its transmission grid expansion programme. The consultant service for the three is for about N589million.
The projects for which approval has been obtained from council cover areas like Arigbajo, Abeokuta, Olorunshogo, Ikeja West, Oshogbo, Ogijo, Ikorodu, Shagamu and part of Benin towards Edo State contiguous to Ondo State around Omotosho as well as Agbara and Badagry.
“When completed and construction takes place, it will help us in the evacuation of power from the Olorunshogo Power Plant to supply industrial clusters in Ogun and part of Lagos State” Fashola said.
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