One of the
major news items in circulation has been the scarcity of tomato. Incidentally,
Nigeria is (was) the 14th largest producer of tomato in the world and the
second largest producer in Africa, after Egypt, but our country hardly produces
enough to meet the local demand of about 2.3 million tonnes, and lacks the
capacity to ensure an effective storage or value chain processing of what is
produced. Out of the 1.8 million tonnes that the country produces annually,
900, 000 tonnes are left to rot and waste. Meanwhile, tomato-processing
companies in the country operate below capacity and many of them have had to
shut down.
The CEO of
Erisco Foods, Lagos, Eric Umeofia laments that tomato processing companies lack
access to foreign exchange to enable them buy heat-resistant seedlings and
other tools that would help ensure the country’s sufficiency in local
production of tomato paste. Similarly, Dangote Tomato Factory recently
suspended operations due to the scarcity of tomatoes and the assault on its
tomato farms by a tomato leaves destroying moth, known as “tuta
absoluta” – a South
American native, also known as the Tomato Ebola, because of its Ebola-like
characteristics.
Other reasons
have been advanced for the scarcity of tomatoes in our markets: the fuel crisis
which has driven up costs making it difficult and expensive for Northern tomato
farmers to bring tomatoes to the South, insurgency in the North East which has
resulted in the closure of many tomato farms in that region, thus cutting off
national output, the recent ethnic crisis in Mile 2, during which Hausa Fulani
traders and other marketers engaged in a murderous brawl, climate-change
induced drought and heat wave in the Northern-tomato producing states of
Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Plateau, Kano and Gombe. In the best of seasons,
Nigeria spends $1.5 billion annually on the importation of tomato products. The
cost in this regard, seems certain to rise.
Already, the
effect of this tomato blight is being felt in households. Whereas a few months
ago, a basket of tomato was about N5,000, it is now about N40, 000 per basket.
Housewives are protesting bitterly about how a piece of tomato vegetable has
jumped up by about 650%, such that three pieces now go for as much as N500.
Tomato in Nigeria today is, thus, more expensive than a litre of petrol!
I have it on
good authority, that in those face-me-I-face you quarters where the poor live,
it has in fact become risky to leave a tin of tomato paste carelessly or fresh
tomatoes lying around: they would most certainly be stolen, and there have been
reports of soup pots suddenly vanishing should the owner take a minute from the
communal kitchen to use the loo.
Many are
resorting to desperate measures to sort out a growing epidemic of empty
stomachs and empty pockets. Unless this matter is addressed seriously and
urgently, the social crisis may be far too costly in both the short and the
long run: hungry people could become sick and angry, hungry citizens could
become thieves and a nuisance, they could also become angry voters and a
rebellious populace.
However, the
most brilliant explanation that we have received so far from the federal
ministry of agriculture and rural development is that there is tomato scarcity
because of “tuta absoluta”. According
to the minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, a group of experts will be
immediately commissioned to advise the government of Nigeria on the way
forward.
The mandate of
these experts is to “appraise the situation”, and then give us “a figure on
cost of treatment…so we will source funds to tackle it.” Is that what this is
all about? I am not in the mood at this moment, to spoil anyone’s day, with
straight-to-the-nose-the-mouth-and-the-groin punches but I think that the
response from the federal ministry of agriculture is far from adequate, if not
stupid. Please, where is that bow-tie wearing Akinwumi Adesina, the former
minister of agriculture, now on loan to the African Development Bank?
What we are
dealing with is a national food security crisis. Before the commissioned outsiders
begin to “appraise and cost”, the resident experts in the ministry, should know
that it is not only tomato that has become a scarce and expensive item in
Nigerian kitchens, virtually every food item has become unaffordable and there
are many homes that can no longer feed properly. The scarcity of tomato is only
a metaphor for the spread of staggering inflation and the hunger that ravages
the land.
A bag of rice
that was once N7, 000 is now N19,000 per bag, a congo of garri has jumped from
N170 to N300, bread from N200 per loaf to N300, and same is the case with
virtually every food item. More than this, tomato scarcity is a metaphor for
the lack of continuity in governance processes (What happened to all that
revolution in the agriculture sector under Akinwumi Adesina as minister?) and
of course, for the failure since independence, to take agriculture seriously as
a major vehicle of national security and development. If the response to this
query is that nothing concrete actually took place under previous
administrations, then what is the present Minister’s blueprint? What is his
comprehensive agenda for ensuring food sufficiency?
It is indeed
absurd that in 2016, we cannot produce enough tomatoes to feed ourselves – the
short of it is that that single narrative about “tomato ebola” calls for more
rigorous thinking. It is not enough to deal episodically with tomato scarcity,
or the scarcity of any other food item; this must be done within the context of
a plan of action. The job of government officials is to give the people hope
and not to deepen their agony. A committee of experts looking into the scarcity
of tomato, and how to throw money at the problem (!) is a round-about excuse
for doing nothing. The knowledge that is required is within easy reach and much
of the issues at stake, those within the province of the Ministry and those
located in the larger context, are out there in the public domain, and perhaps,
also in those accumulated files and old reports that most officials hardly ever
read. The ministry also spoke up rather too tardily.
For weeks,
there have been all kinds of ethnic and political insinuations about how tomato
became scarce, some of which, allowed to fester for too long, could have
resulted in other crises. And we can only hope that the connection between food
and health will not be lost on the experts. The health benefits of tomato alone
are so many; to have a population no longer eating tomatoes, because of its
cost could have long-term health implications. And while we expect the federal
government to take the lead in terms of visioning, we should remember to ask:
what are the state governments also doing? What are the states doing to promote
agriculture and ensure food security? Apart from Kaduna State, other state
governments have been criminally silent about the food crisis or they really
don’t know since they probably get supplies of fresh tomatoes from neighboring
countries for their own kitchens. All the big men eating imported fresh
tomatoes when we, the people, can’t get tomatoes to eat, just “continuu
eh” but don’t forget
that a hungry and angry voter is an enemy of politicians.
There is
another side to this whole tomato thing that is noteworthy. Special notice must
be taken of the reference to the insurgency in the North East as a threat to
agriculture. It is also interesting that most of the tomatoes produced in the
country are from the North, and the Middle Belt. Check the list of major tomato
producing states in Nigeria: Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, Plateau. Also
check the list of the states where people are complaining most about the cost
of tomato: they are all in the South! We should ask: so Southern Nigerians are
grumbling about tomato being expensive and scarce, why are they so dependent on
Northern farmers? They want tomatoes from the North, but are these not the same
people who don’t want to see Northern cattle herdsmen in the South? Are these
not the same people campaigning on social media that Southerners should stop
buying beef in order to spoil market for Northern herdsmen? They are now
begging for tomatoes from Northern farms?
In Ekiti, the
state governor has already given local hunters an executive order to shoot any AK-47 wielding herdsmen sighted anywhere in the state.
It may not have occurred to the governor that an AK-47 is far more versatile
than a “shakabula” that is made by local blacksmiths and
that he may actually be sending his local hunters on a suicide mission, but I
doubt if the same governor will stop lorry loads of fresh and healthy tomato
baskets coming from Gombe to Ekiti markets! Thus, whereas cattle-grazing is
causing ethnic division, tomato is generating so much hypocritical love for the
Northern farmer: “Please, send us tomato, stop selling tomato to the tomato
paste producers!”.
This country
is truly far more integrated and its various units so interdependent, in more
ways than the politics of hate and division would ever allow the people to see.
It is tomato today, should onions, millet and kolanuts also become very scarce,
Southerners may start begging Northern farmers to please bring their produce to
the South. This is the truth of our interdependence but we need to get our
politics right and those who exploit ethnic divisions must allow the country to
grow.
One final
point: The scarcity of tomato and the threat of a national food crisis should
remind policy makers at all levels, of the importance of agriculture. A nation
that can feed itself is a safe and secure nation. A hungry nation can only have
sad people.
Tomato is
incidentally, a versatile vegetable, very easy to grow, usually ready for
harvest between 60 – 85 days. Those who are screaming “give us tomatoes”, and
playing politics with it, may also do well to embark on subsistence farming:
create a small garden in the backyard, turn that uncultivated plot of land into
a small farm, plant a variety of food plants, remove that your white collar,
stop waiting on the Northern tomato farmer, get on with the food revolution we
need…while hoping that some day, Nigerian leaders will stop waiting for oil
money and rediscover agriculture as Nigeria’s true gold.
Dr.
Reuben Abati was spokesman and special adviser, Media and Publicity to
President Goodluck Jonathan (2011 – 2015). He tweets from @abati1990.
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