Abuja thrives on local, foreign fruits

Abuja is a hub for many of these fruits and vegetables produced elsewhere in the country but, still, because of the absence of processing and storage facilities, farmers often record huge losses. The situation, therefore, forced farmers to look for alternative larger markets.   While the country’s population consumes 60% of these fruits and vegetables produced, […]

Abuja is a hub for many of these fruits and vegetables produced elsewhere in the country but, still, because of the absence of processing and storage facilities, farmers often record huge losses. The situation, therefore, forced farmers to look for alternative larger markets.   
While the country’s population consumes 60% of these fruits and vegetables produced, farmers and marketers groan with the pains of having to lose almost half of what is produced  to waste because of the absence of storage facilities and the activities of some security agencies who delay their movements to the market, forcing the items to rot .
This reporter who went to some of the notable fruits markets in and around Abuja discovered that while fruits business thrives, farmers and marketers find it extremely difficult to deal with agonies of post-harvest loses and glut in the market, especially since there are no processing facilities around the country.
At Farmers Market, located in Maitama, Abuja, traders sell local and foreign fruits to hundreds of buyers but said business is not as usual.
Usman Mohammed from Jama’are, Bauchi State, is one of the fruits sellers. He told this reporter that some of the fruits they sell at the market were imported, adding: “These apples you see here are from South Africa. We go there and buy. You know farmers there are well organized. We buy from them and they deliver to us here in Nigeria. You know the South African farmers have companies or organized marketers that buy these products from them we, in turn, buy from the companies or organized marketers.”
Answering questions on whether it is sold to them in baskets, bags or pieces, Mohammed said it comes in cartons. The bigger ones are usually separated and packaged in different cartons and may contain 110 apples; the smaller ones may contain 120 to 185 apples. A carton costs between N10, 000 to N13, 000.
Another trader, Alhaji Salisu Isa from Zamfara State, said: “I can’t be here and there. There are people- sometimes companies- who go to South Africa to buy from farmers and shipped it to Cotonou (Benin Republic). when it get to Benin Republic, some marketers then go to buy in containers- some containers  may contain up to 1,000 cartons, others may be less  and then shipped down to Nigeria. It is from these people that they buy.”
 According to him, they may buy like 50 or 100 cartons. A carton costs between N9,000 to N12, 000, depending on the quality and size of the apple.
On local fruits, traders in the market told Daily Trust their supply used to come from different states of the federation.  pineapples, pawpaw come from Edo State and some of the plantain comes from Ondo State, but the larger quantities come from Edo State.
Cabbage, lettuce, carrot, green beans, Irish potato come from Plateau State, they said,  adding that significant quantity of carrot also come from Kano and Zaria, in Kaduna State.
Water melon, onion and mango come from states like Kano, Borno, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states, they said.
The tomatoes they sell are supplied mostly from Gombe, Zaria and Kano; and depending on the quality, a basket now costs between N5, 000 to N,6000 at the moment.
According to them, Benue State is the major supplier of oranges to them. It comes in 100 kilogrammes bags. A bag is sold now for between N4,000 to N6,000.
Zuba has the largest fruits market in the Federal Capital Territory. This reporter counted six trailers offloading water melon and oranges brought from different parts of the country.
Ahmed Abdullahi is a dealer on water melon, and a member of the committee that organized the market, he said the water melon comes from Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Jigawa, Kano, Niger and Borno states. Some of the farmers bring their water melon themselves while some are supplied by middlemen.
“Once it gets here, we separate it into units. Each unit contains 100 pieces, which are numbered grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3. Their prices depend on the grade. The grade 1 costs between N30,000 to N35,000, which means one costs N300. Grade 2 goes for 15,000 to 17,000 while grade 3 goes for N7,000 to N8,000, which buyers from Lokoja, Nasarawa and other places come to buy,” Abdullahi said.