Erisco Foods accuses importers of shutting down 7 tomato processors
Erisco Foods, Nigeria’s leading tomato paste producer, says the activities of unscrupulous tomato importers have led to the closure of seven processing firms in the country.
Eric Umeofia, CEO of Erisco Foods Limited, says a cabal of importers is lobbying to sabotage the Federal Government’s foreign exchange policy, which has made tomato paste importation difficult.
“The activities of dubious importers have led to the closure of up to seven local tomato paste manufacturing companies in Nigeria already,” Umeofia said at the Katsina State Economic Summit held last week.
Real Sector Watch checks show the following tomato firms have shut down: Quality Foods Ibadan, Oyo State; Jigawa State Tomato and Citrus Processing Complex; Ikara Foods Processing Company, Kaduna, among others.
According to Umeofia, Nigeria has abundant locally grown tomatoes that can meet domestic and industrial demands, regretting, however, that about 75 percent are wasted each year, owing to poor storage facilities and lack of investments in the tomato value-chain.
Though the country is the 14th largest tomato producer, it still spends about $1 billion on importation of the commodity from China and Italy.
It is eighth largest importer after Iraq and Japan, Real Sector Watch can report.
“This is a big shame because Nigeria has two seasons for harvesting tomatoes as against Europe and Asia with only one season for harvesting. It is a complete shame and embarrassment that while we waste our tomatoes in our backyards, we use our hard-earned money to import sub-standard tomato pastes from other countries with far less tomato endowments,” he stated.
“It will, however, shock Nigerians that while genuine manufacturers such as Erisco Foods and Dangote Farms are working hard to ensure full backward integration in the tomato sub-sector, a cabal of tomato importers has been very busy lobbying and deceiving well-placed government officials to stop them from taking actions that will transform Nigeria’s tomato sector for the better,” he further said.
“Only recently, the House of Representatives, in response to a petition against the activities of importers of sub-standard tomato paste into our country, scheduled a House Hearing for April 14, 2016, with written letters of invitation to respective stakeholders, including Erisco Foods. Shockingly, when we arrived at the hollowed chambers of the National Assembly in Abuja, we were informed that the hearing had been called off with no prior notice and no new date given. Interestingly the banners announcing the hearing were still conspicuously placed within the Assembly grounds. Obviously, some desperate attempt had succeeded in short-changing Nigerians. We believe that the enemies of Nigeria are working over-time to maintain the status-quo of plundering of the Nigerian people through dumping of tomato pastes and other products which we can produce even better,” he disclosed.
He said Erisco Foods launched the Tomato Paste Revolution, which involves the use of technology invented by the company’s management and a team of Nigerian engineers to process fresh tomatoes from Nigerian soil straight into paste.
He further said with Erisco Foods Limited and Dangote Farms, Nigeria does not need to ever import tomato paste into our country again, adding that Erisco Foods alone has an installed capacity to produce 450, 000 metric tons of tomato paste per annum, though it is currently utilising less than 20 percent of capacity.
“Our target is to hit one million metric tons per annum when our Katsina, Jigawa and Sokoto state projects come on stream by the last quarter of this year, as far as we receive adequate support.
“With more support from the government and the good people of Nigeria, Erisco Foods will do even more as we are determined to create over 50,000 jobs in the next three years via modernised tomato farming, tomato transportation, tomato processing and even the provision of made-in-Nigeria agric machinery, as our group is coming up with a tractor and farming implement assembly plant,” he stated.
ODINAKA ANUDU