There seems to be respite for Nigerians in the reduction of high tomato prices, as the Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria, TOPAN, assured that current high tomato prices will crash this July following significant harvest from Plateau State, a major tomato producing State in the country.
The best month to plant tomatoes in Nigeria is between December and March. Planting tomatoes in the months of December, January, February and March will enable harvesting the commodity in the lean months of May – August. During the months of May to August, the prices of tomatoes reach their maximum level.
“However, now we have tomato harvest in Plateau State, which can go around a little, at least to crash the prices of tomatoes in the market. Again we are trying to have a good land preparation before we start the wet season farming, however, planting this year too is late but we are trying to see what we can do because small-scale farms made a lot of losses during the dry season farming.
Meanwhile, he said, all year round tomato production is a major solution to scarcity and high prices of tomato in the market, basically, when there is massive investment from the private sector, and if the government collaborates with the private sector.