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.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer.
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