…wants southern Nigeria to embark on massive tomato production

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA- AS high food prices engulf Nigerian markets, an agribusiness expert and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, EA Daniel Farm, Sapele, Delta State, Engr Daniel Ijeh, Friday, asserted that the current tomato crisis is traceable to high temperature in northern Nigeria.

In a chat with Vanguard, Ijeh suggested that tomato farmers in Kano either switch to retractable cooling roof or they deploy technology, something like shade-net to produce tomato.

He said: “Tomato cannot tolerate extreme temperatures, so temperatures above 36 degrees are extreme for tomatoes and will not yield well under such conditions. Now should that be the prevalent environmental condition that can be done by tomato farmers in Kano either they switch to retractable cooling roof or they deploy technology, something like shade-net to produce and then when the temperature becomes normal they can remove all the shade-net they can now produce under normal temperature. The high temperature is what has impacted on our tomato production.”

According to him, it is imperative to build a high capacity reservoir in order for the tomatoes to have adequate water supply, and also apply bio-stimulant to the soil to withstand abiotic stresses like heat including use of poultry manure to retain moisture and mulch to keep the water intact, wherefore, these measures could help salvage tomatoes production in the country.

“The strategy to sustain tomato production is when temperature is going extreme the southern part of Nigeria should produce a lot of tomatoes because their weather will be convenient for tomatoes to thrive”, he said.

Meanwhile, he also asserted that all States in the southern part of the country have the capacity to grow tomatoes that could meet the domestic demands of the commodity.

“All of the southern States can grow tomatoes; from the month of January down to July, we can grow tomatoes in the South without any problem. Before Nigeria can produce their own tomatoes sustainably the south must grow tomatoes because I have seen farms in the North and South.

“The highest temperature we recorded is around 36 degrees, and that is the extreme which tomatoes can withstand in the south, and in night time it drops a little we can, and we can have average around 32 or 33 degrees here (South), and when I put in 30 per cent shade-net I can have an average of 29 or 28 degrees, which is the optimal temperature for tomato production and this is in the south.

“In our farm in Abuja, we have a sensor that records temperature for us, which on some occasions, we record 52 degrees, and if that is sustained over an extended period the tomatoes will not produce anything.

“Most of our tomato farmers in the country do not have this sensor that measures the temperature, and that is why we keep on having this problem”, he pointed out.

He also added that, “But there is hope in overcoming these problems in Nigeria based on private sector investments to solve these problems even without government’s interventions because we are currently training farmers on new technologies including seeds”, he said.