How seasonal farming, R&D constrain Nigeria’s fruit industry

Nigeria’s inability to farm fruits all year and carry out extensive research and development are major constraints to the nation’s estimated $10 billion fruit industry.

Nigeria could save as much as N165 billion which is the yearly estimated spend on the importation of fresh fruits and juices, create jobs for its teeming youths and reduce pressure on the naira if the country starts farming fruits all year round.

“We need to start farming fruits and every agricultural product all year round. Farmers need irrigation facilities and access to finance to achieve this as it is done in other nations of the world,” Sanusi Daud, manager, Dangote Farms told BusinessDay in a telephone response to questions.

“The Nigeria’s fruit industry is worth about $10 billion yet you do not find a lot of orchard farms in the country and this is because we lack adequate Research and Development (R&D) in the subsector which is very critical for the growth of the industry.

“There are hybrid seeds for fruits with shorter gestation period now but you do not get them easily in Nigeria. Farmers still farm with seeds of longer gestation period,” said Daud.

The Nigerian market for fruit juice is estimated to grow by more than 20 percent this year due to rising preference among consumers for natural fruit juices and high population growth rate.

“The cocktail industry is growing very fast and we use a lot of fruits in our industry. One of the most sort after cocktail is the mango cocktail but we can only have it for our customers when mangoes are in season,” said Jumoke Ojo, creative director, MandiesCocktails Limited.

“We need to start farming fruits all year round like South Africa and other countries where you get any fruit you want irrespective of the season. Nigerians are now consuming more of natural fruit juices and this is more business for us to benefit from if we can source them locally,” Ojo said.

Due to the huge demand of fresh fruits in the country juice makers in Nigeria go to the extent of importing fruit to satisfy demand for their products.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) estimates that Nigeria imports N165 billion worth of fruit juice every year.

With the present situation, farmers of oranges and other fruits like pineapple and watermelon will have to compete for market share, already saturated with fruits from other neighbouring countries.

In 2002, the Federal Government banned the importation of fruit juice into the country, which gave farmers hope for a prosperous time in the farming and marketing of fruits in the country.

“We import lots of fruits from Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Ghana and few other West African countries when fruits are out of season in Nigeria,” said AfricaFarmer Mogaji, chief executive officer, X-ray Farms Consulting Limited.

Nigeria has various ranges of fruits such as oranges, guava, pineapples, avocado, pears, and pawpaw amongst other.

Each year, millions of tonnes of these fruits are harvested in Nigeria but a good number of them go down the drain as wastages, due to poor market access and poor storage facilities, among others.

Most of the fruits in the country are farmed in the middle belt region, with traders buying and conveying it to various parts of the country especially areas with high consumption.

Nigeria is currently the ninth producer of citrus fruits and mango production in the world with 3.4 million MT and 850,000MTrespectively, according to data from Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

 

Josephine Okojie