THE Executive Director of the National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr Abayomi Olaniyan, has stressed the importance of the tomato value-chain to national development, saying if well-harnessed, the crop could help solve some challenges facing the country, especially in the area of employment generation.
Dr Olaniyan stated this in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, while inaugurating the tomato innovation platform, which helps bring stakeholders in the area of production, processing, marketing, input supply and transportation together for the crop’s movement from the farmer to the final consumer.
Speaking through the coordinator of the project, Dr Olutola Oyedele, the NIHORT ED explained that the institute was keying into the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan through its 10 projects covering different commodity crops to address different challenges of national concern.
“One of such is the Project 7, which is for the establishment of innovation platform to create space for learning on different crops.
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“The project, at inception, has carried out different surveys in five of the six geopolitical zones, and during these surveys, areas of intervention for challenges were identified and are currently being addressed,” Dr Olaniyan said.
In her remarks, the project coordinator, Dr Oyedele, described tomato as one of the Horticultural value chains of interest to the institute, and the programme is aimed at bringing together stakeholders to examine the opportunities and challenges inherent in the tomato value-chain in a bid to solving them.
“The platform is, therefore, to include all stakeholders available in the tomato value chain like the producers, marketers, input suppliers, transporters, financial institutions, among others,” Dr Oyedele said.
Among the participants at the inauguration was the branch manager of the Bank of Agriculture, Ogbomoso, Mr Adekunmi Ojesola, who said the bank was ready to partner with those in the tomato value chain in order to create employment for the people.
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