"Nigeria imports $360m worth of tomatoes annually"
Speaking in an interview during the GEMS4 dissemination workshop on agribusiness/micro retail in Kaduna, intervention manager, Richard Ogundele, while calling for the need for post harvest loss reduction in tomatoes production, said the country could feed itself and generate surplus agricultural products for export.
He blamed the loss on Nigerians’ inability to convert excess production of tomatoes into paste, noting that poor traditional handling practices and inefficiency in resource use had created a gap between farmers and processing companies.
Ogundele, however, pointed out that despite the 45 per cent loss, out of its current 1.8 million metric tons of tomatoes produced annually, Nigeria had the capacity to produce 2.3 million tons.
Read more at the Nigerian Tribune (Muhammad Sabiu-Kaduna)