Tomato scarcity hits Sokoto

During the tomato season, Daily Trust learnt that about 40 trucks of tomatoes produced in the state are loaded daily, out of which some are taken to neighbouring states for sale. But this is not the case today as tomato dealers in the state say they have run out of stock, a situation confirmed by […]

During the tomato season, Daily Trust learnt that about 40 trucks of tomatoes produced in the state are loaded daily, out of which some are taken to neighbouring states for sale.
But this is not the case today as tomato dealers in the state say they have run out of stock, a situation confirmed by this reporter during a visit to Kasuwar Daji in Sokoto where tomatoes and other vegetables are sold in bulk. At the market which used to be full of tomatoes and other vegetables, not much of the produce was seen during the visit.
Chairman of the vegetable sellers association of Sokoto, Malam Mahmud Bello Maisamari, however, explained that: “This is not the season for farming tomatoes in the state. So we don’t have tomatoes that are produced in the state. We travel to Benue, Kwara, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina states to get tomatoes and even then we are not getting the quantity we want because of dearth of the commodity.
“Before, we bring in 15 to 20 trucks of tomatoes but now we hardly bring in three J5 vehicles and yet we sell them at a loss. Before, with N60, 000 to N70, 000 you can buy one J5 vehicle of tomatoes which is now between N400, 000 and N450, 000 and it takes God’s intervention for you to recover your money not to talk of making profit.
“We mostly sell it between N250, 000 to N300, 000 because we cannot take the risk of leaving them till the following day as we are lacking the modern preservation techniques. We are running our businesses at loss, we hardly sell it as we bought it,” he lamented.
Maisamari said they have been appealing to government to establish tomatoes processing company for the past five years but to no avail, adding, “When it’s cheap, the government can buy them, process and sell especially during season as this,” the traders chairman stated.
He debunked insinuations that they were arbitrarily hiking prices of the product asserting, “We are not the cause of the hike. It is due to the dearth of the commodity. And we appeal to those wealthy people who know where these commodities are cheap to get them for us.”
On their part, consumers have expressed concern over the prevailing situation. Hajiya Rabi Abubakar laments, “Yesterday I bought a small basket of tomatoes at N800.00. This is something I previously bought at about N150.00 to N200.00. Tomatoes are quite expensive now.”
Another resident of the state, Mrs. Grace Ali noted, “Before now you can make stew with N100 worth of tomatoes but now it will cost you N1, 000 to N1, 500 for same quantity.”
Yet another, Mariam Usman says she now resorted to tin tomatoes, “Since the prices of tomatoes skyrocketed in the state, I use an alternative, which is tin tomatoes.”