16 metric tons of tomatoes transported via rail

Last week, Nigeria freighted 16 metric tons of tomatoes via rail worth N1.6 million for the first time in 58 years to attack post-harvest losses recorded at the transportation stage.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy is rated as the second largest producer of tomatoes in Africa and 13th in the world but about 40 percent of the crop is lost in transit from the North to the South where the market is.

According to stakeholders, the transportation of tomatoes via rail will help the country recover the estimated 40 percent losses resulting from freighting tomatoes by road and in raffia baskets.

“A total of 650 crates weighing 25kg  each, which is equivalent to 16.3 metric tonnes were transported from Kano to Lagos via rail in plastic crates,” Emmanuel Ijewere, vice president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) and CEO, Best Farms Limited told BusinessDay.

“Post-harvest losses are recorded at various stages and the transportation stage is the most notorious of all the stages. The freighting of tomatoes by rail will attack the transportation stage loss,” Ijewere said.

He stated that the train which departed Kano for Lagos was delayed 7 hours as a result of teething problems with the rail tracts along the corridor.

He noted that despite the challenges encountered, the transportation of tomatoes form Kano to Lagos will still be carried out and it would be on a weekly basis, with a focus on including other perishable commodities.

Nigeria’s actual tomatoes production is put at 1.5 million metric tons but 700,000 metric tons is lost to post-harvest, leaving supply at 800,000 metric tons, data obtained from Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) show.

Ijewere stressed the need for better rail infrastructures. “The wagons have not been designed for perishable goods and are not properly ventilated. Ideally we are supposed to have wagons that are refrigerated.

“Equipment’s needed to offload the tomatoes from the train were lacking and parking spaces for our vehicles to load the tomatoes from the train stations were not available,” he added.

The NABG vice president stated that efforts are on going to improve rail facilities by the private sector in partnership with Kano and Lagos governments.

He called on farmers to embrace the use of plastic crates instead of raffia baskets which are heaped on each other, resulting in a significant volume being crushed and rotting due to heat and poor ventilation when being transported by road.

The initiative of freighting tomatoes by rail was done by Best Foods Limited, Nija Pride, ConnectRail Services Limited, USAID and the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

Josephine Okojie