Fake Asian tomato paste flood Nigerian markets

Lekettey in a statement said the trend has been heightened by the challenge of improper categorisation of the different types of tomato content imported into Nigeria. “The tools and techniques required to properly qualify before certifying these products are currently not being used. Hence, imported tomato sold in Nigeria is more than 50 per cent […]

Lekettey in a statement said the trend has been heightened by the challenge of improper categorisation of the different types of tomato content imported into Nigeria.
“The tools and techniques required to properly qualify before certifying these products are currently not being used. Hence, imported tomato sold in Nigeria is more than 50 per cent cheaper than what it is being sold in their countries of origin.
“This is a big question that manufacturers and regulatory authorities must answer. For example, 210 grams of supposed 100 per cent tomato paste of 285 brix is sold at between 1.1 euro and 1.8 euro in Europe while the same content is sold in Nigeria at N80.
“The international standard is 28 percent brix for canning and between 34-36 percent brix for drumming. Majority of tomato paste imported however doesn’t exceed 26 percent brix, resulting in watery paste. Unpatriotic marketers conniving with dubious foreign processors haul in tomato paste treated with food colour additives to achieve the deep red colour.
“Over the years, NAFDAC has placed premium on the scrutiny of drugs to the detriment of food and cosmetics, hence the infiltration of fake and adulterated products in the neglected category,” the statement read in part.
The association therefore called on government not to reduce the current tariff but rather make duty on all imported tomato products 100 percent, adding that drum tomato can remain at the present 5 percent until next farming season.
The TPAN president said the duty on machinery and raw materials such as tin plates, printed tin plates, glue etc. should attract zero percent duty and called on government to henceforth leave the business of tomato importation of the necessary shortfall in demand to local manufacturers and discourage the era of indiscriminate trading.
The association also said that government should immediately classify the different types of tomato products and embark on national sensitisation of the consumers.
Assorted imported tomato pastes, tinned and imported fresh tomato neatly packaged are seen stacked in most shopping malls and supermarkets in Abuja, the federal capital city while the easily perishable Nigerian fresh and dried tomatoes are found at the conventional markets.
Mrs. Rahila Jibrin Mailafiya who was seen at Gwarimpa market buying the local fresh tomatoes said, “I do not go for any of the imported tomatoes or the paste because I do not like the taste. My children do not like tin tomatoes at all. Yes, you are right, the imported tomato is cheaper but I do not like it.
“I bought the imported Irish potatoes from a plaza at the Central Area but my children didn’t like it at all. It is bigger and easier to peel and slice but it does not have that natural taste the Nigerian grown Irish potatoes has. Sometimes I manage imported pepper called ‘tatase’ for salad. I do not add it to my stew because is too sweet,” she said.
 The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina who expressed concern over Nigeria’s partial reliance on imported tomatoes said, “another area where we need large commercial farmers is the horticulture produce. You take tomatoes for instance, Nigeria produces 65 percent of all the tomatoes in West Africa, much of it are produced in Kano, over 45 percent of it rot away every day.
“For all the tomatoes we produce, 1.5 million metric tons, we import tomatoes from China. But we are changing that very rapidly. Already right now we are working with Dansa, the Dangote Group; they are putting in $35 million into a tomatoes processing plant in Kano that will process about 2.5 million metric tons of tomatoes,” he said.
But Alhaji Tanimu Kura, a seasoned tomato farmer at Kadawa irrigation project in Kano said the problem of tomato farming in Nigeria originates from the inability of government to provide farmers with the required tomato seeds due to massive corruption in the system.
“Tomato farmers in Nigeria are still using UC 82 B variety of seed for irrigation and Roma variety for rain fed farming. These two varieties of seed are outdated and have since been abandoned by serious farmers everywhere in the world. But they are the two the federal government is providing us. These two varieties of seed are associated with very low yield and not favourable to manufacturing companies because of low puree. The shelf life is very short and could perish easily and has a lot of water in it.
“Tomato farmers in advanced agriculture are using high breed seed. The other two varieties come in tins with about 100,000 seeds in one tin. The high breed seed are only 1,000 in a packet but the yield is several times higher than those two varieties. It has higher yield and longer shelf life. It can stay for 10 days before it perishes. It has more puree and is favourable for manufacturers.
“The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, which has the mandate to produce high quality vegetable seeds that include tomato seeds has not been forthcoming on this despite huge resources allocated to it. In 2012 alone, N19,092,000 was appropriated to it for development of varieties of tomato and other vegetable seeds. In this year’s budget, the same institute proposed to spend N20 million on the same seed development and yet there is nothing to show for it.
“We are using our own resources to import this high breed tomato seeds. How many farmers can do that? Where is the over N39 million appropriated for tomato seed development? Use that to buy high breed tomato seeds and distribute to farmers and see how things will change,” he said.