Tomato market in Nigeria and the process of preserving it into tomato paste
Nigeria is the 16th country on the global tomato production scale. Entrepreneurs earn millions on tomatoes! You can become one of them! Read this tomato production guide and find the most successful state to start your business in Nigeria!
Tomato products are cultivated in most states in Nigeria. There are even leaders in tomato production industry! It includes states like:
- – Kano
- – Taraba
- – Gombe
- – Bauchi
- – Kaduna
- – Sokoto
- – Zamfara
- – Katsina
- – Jigawa
All these states produce about 80% of all tomatoes in the country. Kano is the most successful region in this area. Nigeria also provides about 2% of total world tomatoes production. Still, the country does not get about 45 percent of the tomatoes due to the poor food supply chain.
Every year Nigeria loses about 750 thousand tons of tomatoes due to the bad food supply chain. It costs millions of Naira. It also leads to the lack of tomatoes in the country. Only in 2009, the Federal Government had to buy tomato paste worth about 16 billion Naira to support the inner demand of the country.
Commercial Tomato Production Trend
The majority of tomatoes grow in the northern part of the country. They grow in the temperature range between 25 and 34 degree Celsius. Tomatoes are also very sensible to humidity and rain. The highest yield of tomatoes is provided by states like Jigawa, Delta, Kwara, Oyo, Borno, Bauchi, and Plateau. The planting tomato season in these areas is from August to September.
The highest yield of tomato in the history of Nigeria was recorded in 2010. The overall value of this highest yield was $687, 610, 000. Still, it couldn`t satisfy Nigerians. The national demand for fresh tomatoes in Nigeria is about 2-3 million tons every year. Due to the poor production chain, Nigerians waste from 750 000 to 1, 350, 000 tons of tomatoes.
How can you help with these tomato wastes? Some of us do not ask these questions but just take a chance. Consider the following two examples for the profitability of tomato production in Nigeria!
PRODUCTION OF TOMATO PASTE
INGREDIENTS
- Tomatoes
MATERIALS
- Pot
- Bowls
- Gas cooker, stove or any source of heat
- Sieve
PROCEDURE
- Pick out the unripe and rotten tomatoes
- Wash your tomatoes
- Chop tomatoes into quarters.
- Grind the tomatoes using blender or grinding machine and ensure you do not add water while grinding, if necessary add very little.
- Transfer the grinded tomatoes into your pot and parboil it for 10-15 minutes depending on the quantity of the tomatoes you’re using.
- After parboiling, let it cool down, after cooling down sieve the tomatoes to remove excess water, then transfer it into bottlesand cover it.
- Bottles should submersed in water bath when sterilizing
- Transfer these bottles into larger pot, add little water to the pot and boil for 25-20 minutes.
- After heating, remove your bottles from the pot and keep
- Your tomatoes paste is ready and can stand for a year if not opened.
These training materials are provided by iDixcover Opportunities Vocational Training Center headed by Abdullateef Lawal for further coaching, and further training for commercial productions, the in and out of the business, kindly reach out to us via: 07069655569 or info@idixcover.com and we shall connect you with and also offer technical assistance to assist you in starting your business as soon as possible
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