The Nigerian government is concerned about the soaring prices of
tomatoes in the country. The prevailing food inflation, which is the highest
in decades, has been a challenge for the administration of Bola Tinubu,
which declared a state of emergency in food production last year, as part of
efforts to battle food insecurity. Unfortunately, a year after it took office, the
rising cost has refused to abate thus creating protests from angry and
hungry citizens, some of who have also been tempted to loot government
warehouses.
The minister of agriculture, Mohammad Abubakar, in a recent post on X,
blamed rising prices on production being hit by a severe infestation known
as Tomato Ebola or Tomato Leaf Miner — caused by a moth-like insect.
The government has responded by sending teams into the affected areas
to combat the threat and help farmers recover their crops as quickly as
possible. The price of tomatoes — an essential ingredient in many beloved dishes in
Africa’s most populous nation — has surged due to shortages, according to
market traders. Audu Isa, who sells vegetables at one of the biggest markets in Abuja, the
capital, said the price for a small basket of tomatoes has jumped to 25,000
naira ($17) from 7,000 naira in April. That price spike is “the worst we’ve
had in 10 years,” he said.
It is getting worse. In Jos, a city in Nigeria’s Northcentral Plateau state, a
large basket of the crop costs as much as 75,000 naira, almost 20 times
more expensive than three months ago.
Joshua Lalong, a farmer in Jos, said “the biggest issue is the cost of fuel
that has gone up, which makes dry season farming impossible.”
President Bola Tinubu scrapped a popular but costly fuel subsidy and
eased foreign-exchange controls shortly after taking office in May 2023.
Both led fuel prices to surge before the subsidy was reintroduced.
“Watering machines need fuel and many of us are losing money because of
fuel prices, so there is no incentive for many of us to cultivate tomatoes and
other produce,” Lalong said. Food prices are particularly sensitive in Nigeria, where an average
household spends more than 50% of its budget to eat and the rise in the
cost of living has already sparked unrest. Trucks hauling food supplies
earlier in the year were hijacked on rural highways, and soldiers had to
stand guard to prevent grain warehouses from being ransacked in major
cities by desperate Nigerians.
The country is also considering suspending import duties on some food
staples as well as drugs and other essential items for six months to slow
inflation.
Tomatoes present a new problem. They hold immense significance in
Nigerian cuisine for their contribution to the stews and jollof rice greatly
loved in the West African nation, and are also a major agricultural
commodity. According to researchers at Cornell University, over 200,000 small scale
farmers cultivate the crop, making Nigeria the second largest producer of
tomatoes in Africa and 12th globally. The item constitutes a fifth of the
nation’s daily vegetable consumption. In addition to Tomato Ebola and the
high cost of fuel, farmers also blame the weather.
“Due to the hot weather, farmers nowadays, for fear of incurring losses, will
dare not plant tomatoes in February or March, because it will not grow,”
Sani Danladi Yadakwari, chairman of a growers association from Kano,
Nigeria’s biggest tomato producing state said “By May, all the tomatoes
produced in Nigeria have finished. We are now waiting for rain to start
falling to plant the new tomato.”