Nigeria spends over $1.5 billion annually on tomato products' importation from China and other parts of the world, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Raw Material and Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Dr Husaini Ibrahim, has said.
He stated this yesterday while addressing farmers in Lafia, state capital of Nasarawa state.
The RMRDC boss, represented by Dr Usman Hassan, a consultant, lamented that despite “all the comparative advantage the country has all year round in tomato production, we are largely dependent on importation of tomato paste and other tomato products from China and other exporting countries which is unacceptable.”
To address the problem of acute shortage of tomato vegetables and to boost Nigeria’s foreign currency earning, he said the RMRDC decided to introduce improved and certified high yielding tomato seeds to various Growers Associations in the country.
The essence of introducing the improved seeds is to boost its production in the country, he stressed.
