Like wild fire, commercial tomato cultivation has taken roots in Delta to the extent that its farmers claim that they have the capacity to crash market prices and push the near total dependence on supplies from Northern Nigeria into the dustbin of history in no distant future.
Winifred displaying some of the tomatoes harvested from her farm
Around markets in Asaba, the state capital and environs, a significant proportion of fresh tomatoes supplies are now sourced from a rapid growing league of local growers who are expanding cultivated farmlands by every harvest.
At the 2015 World Food Day which was marked with a food fair in Asaba, stakeholders had close assessment of the progress so far gained by the local tomato farmers as a team showcased its harvest.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who used the occasion to distribute tractors and other vital farm implements to leading farmers was quoted as instructing Prof. Eric Eboh, the State’s Chief Job Creation Officer to key the emergent tomato farming revolution in Delta state into the government’s youth agriculture empowerment schemes.
Silencing doubting Thomases
Winifred Gilbert, a young farmer, regarded as the Face of Tomato Farming in Delta, told Vanguard Metro VM that many people who came to the Fair doubted their ability to mass produce tomatoes. “Even with live nurseries and fresh growing tomato plants we displayed at our stand at the food fair, some participants still felt that we had stage- managed the baskets of harvest we brought in.
Some felt we bought the tomatoes we brought, but these doubts are turning out to pay us more prominence as some of the doubting Thomases who cared to inspect our field efforts left our farms convinced and have joined in spreading testimonies to the public,” she said
Winifred, an established poultry farmer in Asaba got engrossed in the tomato farming revolution in Delta following an encounter with former State Assembly lawmaker, Paul Okpue.
“We had a chance meeting and he passionately spoke about his promotion of commercial tomato cultivation in Delta and his determination to help as many persons as would embrace the revolution.
Just one curious visit to his home garden and another to his expansive tomato plantation off Ibusa Road was enough to make me join the bandwagon and there has been no looking back since then,”she explained.
A cost effective venture: Compared to her poultry business which she has been running successfully for the past four years, Winifred said the cultivation of tomatoes is far more cost effective given the minimal input needed to nurse the crop to harvest.
“My birds rearing has been a sustainable venture since I vacated public service employment into full time farming, but it’s been quite cost intensive giving the substantial amount one invests in procuring feeds, animal health commitment involving consultation of vets and medication for the birds as well as water among the very indispensable inputs which come with a lot of movement (transportation) added to regular presence which is key.
Regular presence
Whereas at my entrance into the Delta tomatoes revolution, all I did was buy a pack of 1500 resilient planting seeds from Hon. Okpue at N3500. He gave minutes of takeoff practice, I procured a farmland and hit the ground running almost immediately.
Interestingly, in just three months from preparing the nursery I had already started harvest after one weeding session and application of pesticides against attacking white flies. In the couple of months that followed, I plucked and sold nearly 20 baskets from my small first farm. Cultivation costs was so minimal,” Winifred explained
Basic challenge: The basic challenge with tomato farming is that it is so water absorbing from nursery to harvest much like other vegetables. Winifred who shared her experiences with VM said:. “I started my first tomato farm at the peak of last rainy season, so there was little or no problem at all with water as nature did most of the watering.
Now in the heat of the sun through the harmattan that has set in, the challenge with watering the growing tomato in my second outing has been enormous.
However, the basic motivation for dealing with this challenge was to ask ourselves, if the North that is so dry has been the major source of tomato consumed across Nigeria, why should the South including Delta which experiences more rains be discouraged in farming the highly demanded vegetable?”
Currently, Winifred waters her growing tomato twice a day, at dawn and dusk. This task for virtually every entrant in the Delta tomato farm environment has been very labour- intensive and time consuming as they all approach it manually. Efforts among stakeholders are in high gear to introduce technical intensive irrigation systems to drastically limit the intense human labour employed in the watering input.
Returns on investment, ambitious projection
With tomato a common item in most delicacies across Nigeria, the demand for it has always been higher than supply, especially in other regions including Delta which depend enormously on supplies from the North. The implication is that it is a steady economic opportunity with minimal risk for those engaged in its production.
She said: “My first farm harvest sold out in a hurry more because those who patronized me realized that the cobra tomato specie I farmed was far heavier, richer and is preserved longer than the regular one in the market. “No doubt, it is a reliable economic opportunity worth expanding. It is, however, too trivial to narrow the return on investment in emerging revolution of tomato farming in Delta to the personal gains of the first line investors. Thanks to the open mindedness of Hon. Okpue who is the outstanding leader of this revolution, more individuals and group are joining the campaign and expanding the cultivated space almost every day.
“The real return on investment therefore is the societal development value of gainfully engaging as many Deltans as possible either as first line investors or as labour to support various aspects of the farming process. That is not only a plus for the quest for food security, it is a plus for diversification of the local economy in the face of dwindling oil revenue and a plus for peace and security of lives and property as several idle minds can be taken off the streets.
“Already, the remarkable success being recorded with tomato is providing inspiration to delve into cultivation of other vegetables many would have considered impossible to grow in this part of the country. I just set my first nurseries for onions and they are sprouting fine.
“On the short term among the growing league of tomato farmers in Delta, there is tacit challenge to raise production so high with intent to crash the volatile market price of the largely Northern sourced tomato in the market. Ultimately, in the long run, we want to halt dependence on external supplies. It’s such an ambitious dream, but very reasonable. I am speaking from experience.”
