NIHORT trains 50 Ondo farmers on tomato production

About 50 participants from Akure  Southt/ North Local Government Area of Ondo State have been trained on value addition in tomato production by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) which was sponsored by the lawmaker representing the federal constituency, Hon. Alade-Lawanson.

Speaking during the training, the Director/Chief Executive Officer, of NIHORT, Dr Mohammed Atanda, said the training was organised to achieve sustainable economic empowerment and growth in the commodity value chain of tomatoes.

He said that the training will enhance the Federal Government’s efforts and focus on agriculture as a strong driver of diversifying the country’s economy.

Atanda who was represented by the Director of Research, Dr. Olagorite Adetula said the purpose of the training  was to enhance capacity building for Agribusiness owners in the tomatoes value chain to reduce wastage and improve income revenue generation.

He explained that the training was crucial to achieving sustainable economic empowerment and growth in the commodity value chain of tomatoes, expressing optimism that if the participants make use of what they were taught they could use the  knowledge acquired to prevent post-harvest losses, scarcity of the products and marginal increase in prices.

“We are training and empowering them on tomato value chains to make them wealth creators using these commodities. At every stage of these commodities, there are enterprises that can be established to create wealth, employment opportunities and alleviate poverty.

“The training will promote food security, employment opportunities, wealth creation, household income and health, especially among youth and women”

She disclosed that the institute had carried out various researches on  tomatoes and its values to economic development, saying the institute would continue to embark on research that would boost production and economy viability of the nation.

According to her, despite being the 14th largest producer of tomato in the world, second in Africa,  Nigeria is still the 13th largest importer of tomato paste in the world and third largest in Africa and attributed this to the short life span of storage of tomatoes.

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She said this responsible for the high post-harvest losses which is between 35 and 130 percent experienced in the commodity value chain.

The Executive Director, however, pointed out that processing tomatoes will reduce seasonal glut and inconsistent year-round supply and reduce the quantity of tomatoes imported into the country.

Adetula said if farmers embrace and adopt the strategies they would produce in large quantities and reduce importation as well as generate employment .

Speaking at the training ,A scientist at NIHORT , Dr Joel Akinfasoye also stressed  the benefit of tomatoes value chain to include processing into Ketchup, paste, dried, Wine and juice and also said tomatoes has a lot of benefit if it was adequately stored and processed to avoid wastage .

One of the participants at the workshop, Tayo Fadoju, appreciated the facilitator and NIHORT  for the knowledge impacted and promised to make judicious use of training and resources for the intended purposes.