Tomato farmers across Nigeria’s major producing belts, including Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Plateau, are currently facing a bittersweet reality. While the harvest season has kicked off with abundance, the resulting glut has sent prices crashing so low that many farmers are struggling to break even. This latest financial blow comes just as the industry was beginning to find its feet following the devastating Tuta absoluta pest outbreaks that previously wiped out billions of naira in investments.
In many local markets, the price drop has been staggering. According to findings by Zoyols Blog, a large basket of tomatoes that once sold for over N25,000 is now fetching less than N10,000. In some areas, a crate goes for as low as N3,000. For farmers like Malam Abba Ibrahim Kalla from Kano, the situation is disheartening. After losing everything to pests last year, he took out loans to return to the field, only to find that the market is now so saturated that he cannot even recoup the cost of fertilizer and labor.
The crisis is a complex mix of high production costs and poor infrastructure. In Kaduna State, farmers are lamenting the astronomical rise in the price of fertilizer, which now sits at around N50,000 per bag. Alhaji Auwal Ibrahim Hunkuyi, a seasoned farmer, pointed out the painful irony of the current season: while pest infestations have decreased due to the colder weather, the cost of petrol for irrigation, chemicals, and labor has made it nearly impossible to turn a profit. For many, farming has become a desperate struggle for survival rather than a profitable business venture.
The lack of storage facilities remains the biggest hurdle for the industry. Without cold rooms or reliable electricity to power preservation units, farmers are often forced to sell their highly perishable produce at giveaway prices or watch it rot in the fields. Some have resorted to traditional sun-drying methods to save what they can, but this is a far cry from the modern value-addition strategies needed to stabilize the market. Stakeholders believe that if the country had stable power, tomatoes could be stored for up to a year, preventing the extreme price fluctuations that plague the sector.
On the research front, institutions like NIHORT and IITA are exploring innovative ways to handle excess harvests, including the development of tomato wine to turn surplus crops into shelf-stable products. While these initiatives show promise, experts like Alhaji Basheer Auwal from Kano argue that immediate, large-scale government and private investment in processing plants is the only way to break the cycle of “boom and bust.”
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has acknowledged these gaps. The government is eyeing an $869 million investment plan aimed at boosting yields and cutting post-harvest losses by half in key states. If successful, this move could provide a much-needed safety net for the 36,000 farmers directly involved in the value chain. For now, however, the men and women on the front lines of Nigeria’s food production are left hoping for a market that rewards their hard work rather than punishing their success.
