Juicy biz at Katsina’s ‘tomato community’

It’s not a grain market that has brought Kokami to limelight, but a thriving tomato business that started in some 13 years back. Located in Danja Local Government Area in Katsina State, Kokami’s tomato business goes full-gear everyday in Shunku Market. Passers-by always see slices of tomatoes spread under the scorching sun for drying on […]

It’s not a grain market that has brought Kokami to limelight, but a thriving tomato business that started in some 13 years back. Located in Danja Local Government Area in Katsina State, Kokami’s tomato business goes full-gear everyday in Shunku Market. Passers-by always see slices of tomatoes spread under the scorching sun for drying on both sides of the Danja-Hunkuyi highway in Kokami. The entire community is always a beehive of activities. The market could no longer contain a surging crowd so the entire community was submerged in the daily transaction.

Trucks and other vehicles compete for the available space. Weekly Trust gathered that between 10 and 15 trucks of tomatoes load daily from the market to various parts of the country, like Lagos, Onitsha, Owerri, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Enugu and Warri.

Large quantities of fresh and dried tomatoes are equally exported to places like Ado-Ekiti, Aba, Imo, Benin, Abia, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Niger and Kaduna states from Shunku Market. The commodity also finds ready markets in neighbouring Niger Republic and Chad.

Following the boom in the business, most of the inhabitants of Kokami and indeed neighboring communities, have become tomato merchants. Weekly Trust learnt that business activities in the market are increasing to the extent that the market is currently in need of expansion.

It was estimated that over 5,000 businessmen conduct business in the market daily. About 1,000 others are engaged at the tomato-drying section of the market daily. The market has three major sections that include the fresh tomato section, dried tomato section and basket section.

Apart from that of tomatoes, other minor businesses also take place at Shunku Market, as butchers and other traders ply theirs. The Sarkin Kasuwa, Alhaji Hassan Kokami told Weekly Trust that business is booming. “We’re currently planning to expand the market because the size is not large enough to accommodate the number of businessmen trooping into the market every day,” Hassan said.

Hassan said there is a need for more shops and sheds. “We’re also planning to construct an animal section because we will soon start selling cattle and other domestic animals in the market. The market is too small for us now.” He recalled that the Danja local government authority had at one time promised to establish a tomato-processing and packaging factory in the village but since then, nothing has been done.

“If government can establish such a factory in this area, I am sure it will boost tomato business. This can also woo investors from within and outside the country to Kokami. We are hoping that government will redeem its pledge to establish a factory in Kokami,” Hassan appealed.

Minors, Weekly Trust observed, are not left out. One of them, Saratu, could be seen helping her physically challenged father, Alhaji Kabir Usman Gozaki in his farm in Gozaki village. The 7-year-old said she always accompanies her father to his farm every day. “This is our only means of livelihood. My sisters, Hajara, Sa’adiyyah and Fatima also work in this farm before they married.”

Saratu’s father, Alhaji Kabiru Usman Gozaki, is a physically challenged farmer who abandoned begging for irrigation farming about 15 years ago. Gozaki told Weekly Trust that shortly after he returned from Saudi Arabia 15 years ago, he noticed the boom of irrigation farming in his area, so he developed interest. “Presently, I am cultivating up to 15 acres despite my disability. And if there is adequate water, I can cultivate between 40 and 45 acres.”

Gozaki said his community is facing serious water shortage. “Fertilizer is also part of our problems here. I have to give out my farm to somebody at the cost of N7, 000 to buy fertilizer this year because we are not getting it from government,” he said, adding that he plants onions and tomatoes through the aid of irrigation machines. “It takes me 3-4 days to finish watering my farm instead of one day, when there is available water.”

Gozaki said he has four watering machines, but the area would still benefit from an earth dam. “If government can do that for us, we will be happy and it will boost irrigation farming in the area. Despite the problem of water shortage, I am harvesting 500 bags of onions and 1,000 baskets of tomatoes,” he said.

Alhaji Mika’ilu Dayyabu is another tomato cultivator in Gozaki village. He told Weekly Trust that although the business is lucrative, farmers are facing serious difficulties, with problems including lack of adequate capital, insufficient supply of fertilizer and lack of water, among others.

Chairman of the Dried Tomato Dealers Association, Alhaji Yunusa Kokami, explained that the purpose of drying the produce is to preserve it. “If not, the commodity will be wasted few days after its harvest. Tomatoes are not like other commodities, which you can keep for days. When you harvest, you have to use it immediately. So, instead of wasting it, we resort to drying it for future use,” he said.

Kokami said that a bag of dried tomato is being sold between N7,000 and N8,000, while a measure stands at N200, adding that, “I developed interest in the business from Kano about 15 years ago and when I returned to Katsina, I started the business here in Kokami village.”

Alhaji Aminu Garba Danja is both a dealer and a middle-man at the dried tomato section of the market. A father of 13, Danja said he is contented with the business, because he is taking care of his family with proceeds from it. “Our major problem is incessant taxation by the local government authority. I had to pay N3,000 to Danja local government before I got a space which I am currently utilising for my business.”

Danja said government inspectors harass them despite the fact that the site they have been using is not permanent and devoid of any amenities or services. Weekly Trust observed that the market and indeed the patrons of the market need only a little push from the government to boost their businesses, as ‘juicy’ as it currently is. A 25-year-old tomato farmer, Zaharaddeen Dauda, 25, told Weekly Trust that he relies on irrigation farming, too. “It is more profitable than rainy season farming. I bought a house, a motorcycle and I went to Hajj, all through irrigation farming.” Juicy, indeed.