How Nigeria can save N11.7bn from tomato paste expansion
Nigeria has become a dumping ground for sub-standard products from Asia. Experience has shown that most of the goods that find their way into the country can be locally produced.
One of such items is the tomato paste, whose annual import into Nigeria is estimated at N11.7 billion.
Despite that Nigeria’s north is blessed with fresh tomatoes, most of which are wasted before they get to consumers, the country has failed to tap into this potential to unleash a tomato paste revolution and become an export nation.
At the factory tour of Sonia Foods Industries Limited in Ogun State, Frank Udemba Jacobs, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said for tomato industry to unleash its potential, local manufacturers of the product will need 18 months window under which backward integration can gain foothold.
“Backward integration is paramount on the minds of tomato producers, and it would only be ideal to support them actualise this ambition for the good of our economy,” Jacobs said.
“If this is actualised, jobs would be created and, more importantly, exports would start to happen because Nigeria has the potential to become leading exporter of concentrates, if given the prerequisite support,” he said.
“One way, we could make this happen is to partner the northern states, since tomato cultivation thrives in the north where it finds favourable climate. Governors in the north should endeavour to work together with credible manufacturers like Sonia Foods to speedily achieve backward integration. Nigeria is the second highest producer of tomato in Africa and 13th in the world. Still, it spends 11.7billion naira a year, on importation of tomato paste,” he lamented.
He said about 750,000 tonnes of tomato harvested in Nigeria are wasted, as a result of poor food supply chain (FSC) management, price instability, as well as supply preference of farmers and middlemen for urban markets rather than processors, due to low farm gate prices.
On his part, Nnamdi Nnodebe, managing director, Sonia Food Industries, said the federal government needs to grant indigenous manufacturers a window of 18 months during which they will backwardly integrate and be able to access foreign exchange.
Nnodebe said the situation has become a challenge and has left manufacturers frustrated.
“If given this privilege of accessing forex, Sonia Foods can complete a tomato factory farm, requisite for processing tomato concentrate, within two years,” he said.
Bimbo Ashiru, Ogun State commissioner for commerce and industry, said the state government will do its best to help ensure that manufacturers are supported and encouraged.
“We have started work on the Sagamu Road and some of the Federal Government roads as well. Our government is committed to creating the enabling environment through good road network, because if manufacturers are producing all these goods and we don’t have good road network, the goods are dead on arrival. We are also building bridges in order to reduce traffic gridlock,” he further said.
Ashiru, who also visited the Sonia factory in Sagamu, expressed satisfaction at the level of manufacturing and employment provided by the firm.
“I am impressed that Nigerians are able to think inwards and produce locally. The owners of Sonia have been able to demonstrate best practices in their production and are creating over 4000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
The commissioner stressed the need for synergy between manufacturers along the value chain, adding that manufacturers should patronise their counterparts across sectors in order to cut down on importation and high cost of production.
“We are allocating lands to industries in the same line of raw materials and production so that they can take advantage of forward and backward integration,” he added.
ODINAKA ANUDU