Why tomato prices are high

Tomato farmers across the country have blamed shortfall in supply and logistics problems as the reason for the current hike in the produce price.

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The heads of tomato farmers’ associations disclosed this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.

Bola Oyeleke, the national president Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association Of Nigeria, blamed the reduced supply from the North and logistics problems from South-west for the hike in the price of tomatoes.

“The problem resulting in the hike in tomato prices is connected to logistics problems affecting local farmers in the South-west in the last two weeks.

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“Also, there has been poor supply of the produce from the North, as their harvest cycle for the produce is past.

“Local farmers in the South-west have been unable to transport their produce due to the high cost of transportation, which subsequently resulted in increased post-harvest losses.

“Since they were unable to transport their produce down to the open market, to the city, they incurred a lot of loss and sold at any price in their locality just to survive.
“Hence, there is an increase in demand in the cities and less supply, which is the main reason for the price hike,” Mr Oyeleke said.

He, however, noted that there may be respite in the coming weeks as the price of the produce may likely drop.

“But we are still looking at the next week. The price may come down next week because for the past two weeks we have witnessed a steady rise due to the logistics problems,” he said.

On his part, Rabiu Zuntu, the chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the Tomato Growers and Processors Association of Nigeria, blamed the delayed rains for the shortfall in supply and subsequent price hike.

“There is currently a shortfall in the supply of tomatoes up North because the harvest season is over. The demand is higher than what local farmers can supply.

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“Tomato is a seasonal crop, due to the late rains this year, most farmers did not commence cultivation on time hence the present shortfall in supply and subsequent hike in the price of the produce.

“All the places that we are supposed to get the tomatoes is almost finished.

“The places where they are supposed to start harvesting have no produce due to delay in the rainfall, so the tomatoes are not ready for harvesting.

“We promised that the price of tomatoes will drop after the Sallah celebration but we can (only) predict, we do not determine the market force,” Mr Zuntu said.

NAN reports that 50kg of tomatoes sell as high as N50,000 up North, while the same quantity is sold between N85,000 and N100,000 from late June till date in the South.

(NAN)