Stakeholders in the tomato value-chain are seeking ways to find market-led solutions to post-harvest losses causing wastages of the fresh produce to support the current diversification drive of the Federal Government.
During a two-day workshop held recently in Lagos, stakeholders recognised the need for stronger business linkages, cross-sector partnerships and alliances across the country’s tomato industry as formidable solutions to incessant tomato wastage in Nigeria.
The stakeholders put various market-led solutions forward; connecting aggregated smallholder farmers to structured market demand, unlocking access to technologies and finance, and influencing key actors to prioritise investments in loss prevention.
Mira Mehta, founder and chief executive officer, Tomato Jos, emphasised that smallholder farmers and processors must work together to meet local market demands and scale the local tomato industry.
“It will take two to three years to get smallholder farmers ready to go and then also to get the processing facilities prepared to produce on the scale that is needed to meet demand in Nigeria,” said Mehta.
Africa’s largest economy is rated as the second largest producer of tomatoes in Africa and 13th in the world but about 41 percent of the crop is lost in transit from the North to the South.
The shareholders identify access to high quality seeds and other inputs for smallholder farmers as key in achieving higher yields. They also noted that bio-safety, standards and certifications; and greater access to finance and financial incentives for smallholders would help in reducing post-harvest losses.
During the sessions, some participants identified railway transport, cold chain solutions, solar-water pumping, centralised mini-grids for pre-processing, mobile agro-tech solutions, and collapsible plastic as solutions to address challenges in the tomato value chain.
