We dry our tomato to avoid glut – farmers

Tomato farmers in the area that spoke to this reporter said since they devised the idea of drying their tomato, they do not only sell the whole of it but they also control the price of tomato even when they supposed to experience glut.One of the tomato farmers in Auyo who also cultivates onions, Mohammed […]

Tomato farmers in the area that spoke to this reporter said since they devised the idea of drying their tomato, they do not only sell the whole of it but they also control the price of tomato even when they supposed to experience glut.
One of the tomato farmers in Auyo who also cultivates onions, Mohammed Musa Auyo said right from the stage of planting, he earmarks area that he plants tomato that he will harvest and sell them fresh separate from the ones that he will dry before selling.
“You earn more money from the dry tomato than the fresh one. You know ripe tomato can only stay for few days before it gets rotten while the dried ones can remain fresh even after some months. We dry our tomato in the farm as you can see. All we need to do is to slice the tomato and dry them either on the ground or on leaves especially if you have no monkeys or rats around.
“Yes, we are aware that Dangote has started operation at his tomato factory in Kadawa, Kano state but the price of kilogramme of tomato he is giving the farmers that are supplying him is not encouraging. I cannot supply my tomato to him that cheap. I can make more money by selling in the open market here. Better still if I can dry it and transport to the south,” he said.
Balarabe Musa is another farmer in Auyo that cultivates more onions than tomato that said he also dries his tomato and preserve his onions locally to avoid glut, adding, “I take my produce to Gujungu market to sell to dealers coming from Southern Nigeria to buy.
“They will buy at good price and pay you instantly. What they want is your tomato and onions in good condition. Let there is no rotten one, all should be clean and fresh. What we are lacking here is hybrid seeds. We go to Ayama here in Auyo local government area to buy onion seeds that are locally produced. That is our only source of onion seeds in this area.
“Tomato seeds are usually brought to us by our people farming in Kadawa irrigation area in Kano State. We also produce our tomato seeds locally by extracting the seeds from rotten tomato at the time of harvest. But generally, we lack formal knowledge on how to enhance our tomato production even as tomato farming is lucrative,” he said.
Balarabe who noted that lack of access to finance is one of the major setback they have in enhancing the production and marketing of tomato in the area, he said if only the local government area can link them to some banks or financial houses to access loans to enhance their tomato business.
“If we can get loan as tomato farmers association to buy one or two trucks that we shall use in conveying our tomato to far away markets to sell, I am sure it will be profitable. We are really thinking of ways to expand our business. Sometimes the dealers that are coming from the south to buy tomato from us and take to the south to go and sell are even making more profit than us.
“If we can get access to finance and buy our truck then we shall be taking our goods to the south ourselves and sell. That way we shall have direct link to the market and make more profit by cutting off the middlemen. Part of the losses we encounter now is the use of old and weak vehicles to transport our produce; when the vehicle stops on the way, the produce get rotten and we end up losing everything.
“If we are using our own vehicle, we shall maintain it properly to make sure it does not stop on the way always. Even the tomato we always dry before taking it to the south to go and sell can be better transported with our truck. When we transport tomato there we bring palm oil or yam down here,” he said.
Alhaji Muhammadu Salisu of Tudun Bayi in Auyo said he does not sell fresh tomatoes after harvest, saying, “I dry all my tomato, package it in bags and cartons and sell to buyers that come to Auyo to buy from me. I do not take my tomatoes to anywhere,” he said.