Tomato sellers in dilemma over preservation technology in Cross River

There is poor supply of tomatoes in Cross River State.  To compound the problems, there is no known technology in place to preserve the commodity longer than a week. Worse, the business of tomato farming and selling does not hold much attraction. The perishable fruit is mostly grown in the northern part of the state, […]

There is poor supply of tomatoes in Cross River State.  To compound the problems, there is no known technology in place to preserve the commodity longer than a week. Worse, the business of tomato farming and selling does not hold much attraction.
The perishable fruit is mostly grown in the northern part of the state, including Ikom, Ogoja, Yala, Bekwara and Boki local government areas among others.
Traders or big time distributors of tomatoes in the south usually travel long distances of say, six to eight hours to these places to buy them in large quantities.
If they do not travel up to the Cross River north, other times they depend on suppliers or farmers who bring their tomatoes from Benue State and other parts of northern Nigeria to the south where they have bigger markets.
Investigations conducted by Daily Trust showed that market women, who mostly handle the product in Calabar and its environs travel to far away Republic of Cameroon to buy tomatoes at reduced rates.
According to a big-time seller, Madam Alice Inwang Essien, who sells the red watery seed at Marian Market in Calabar, their major challenge as distributors and sellers include risk of traveling long distances to northern Nigeria or northern Cross River from Calabar, spending upward of eight to 10 hours, is very tasking and unbearable.
“And since we do not grow the product here in Cross River South in such large and commercial quantities, we also have the same challenge the growers have, which is preservation.
“Once we have returned from Cameroon or Ikom or the North, the headache of how to quickly dispose the seed off sets in.
“It is a perishable produce which lifespan can hardly endure beyond a week. If we do not sell our supplies off within few days, we often stand the risk of losing our investment.”
Another distributor, who travels, at least, twice every month to Cameroon to buy the tomatoes and other fruits, Mayen Ekpenyong, said that it is risky traveling on waters to the neighbouring country because of sea robbers, who terrorise and often seize their wares.
“Early this year, militants operating on the Calabar waterways intercepted our small ship which was on its way from Cameroon.  All the traders and seafarers were attacked and dispossessed of their goods and money. Since they did not have ready need for my tomatoes, they damaged them.”
She lamented  the inability of farmers in Calabar and other parts of the state to grow the product in large quantities at least for the local population, so that traders would not have the need to risk distant journeys.
Our sources said that the challenges facing the tomato farmers in the state is basically irrigation and financial power to purchase water pump and distribution machine to water their farms. But in this part of the state, tomato farming is at subsistent level, findings showed.
A part time tomato farmer from Ikom, who is based in Calabar, Benjamin Ogar, said: “Water and irrigation are some of the major challenges faced by local tomato farmers in our state. First, if you are able to rent a parcel of land, you will then have to grapple with how to constantly generate funds to supply steady water.
“Tomato needs regular watering. This is why in the North where there are many consistent growers they situate their farms close to pools of water or artificial irrigation.”
Transport is the other aspect. Major growers in northern Cross River State, who do not have their own trucks, usually spend hugely to hire. But while the vehicles depart the point of distribution or the farms to where the market is, they will worry over safety of their good.
Because many of them do not insure their farm yields, including perishable and fragile fruits like tomatoes, they take responsibility for whatever happens on the road to the produce.
Packaging too, is another problem tomato farmers contend with. They have no capacity to package it in an appeal manner.  Like preservation, inability to package it well has challenged them from competing and sustaining their markets and even export outside the country.
This is why Chief Austin Ekpenyong, a businessman, is of the opinion that government or private entrepreneurs in the state should establish factories with technology to preserve.
He commended the state government for planning to establish a cocoa processing plant in Ikom, urging it to establish tomato facilities in the northern part of the state to make the business viable and attractive.