LinesWatch Agro Desk
For thousands of tomato farmers in Nigeria’s North-East, a harvest season that should signal prosperity has instead become a period of devastating loss. In irrigation clusters across Alau, Maiduguri, and Jere in Borno State, farmers say five months of labour, investment, and risk are being wiped out in less than 48 hours due to severe post-harvest challenges and market saturation.
The unfolding crisis is exposing structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s horticulture value chain, raising urgent questions for policymakers, agribusiness investors, and food system stakeholders about the sustainability of vegetable production without adequate storage, processing, and market coordination infrastructure.
A Familiar Cycle of Abundance and Waste
Dry-season tomato cultivation has become a major livelihood strategy for farmers in Northern Nigeria, particularly in states with access to irrigation water from dams and river basins. Farmers typically begin planting in October, nurturing seedlings for four to five months before harvest begins between January and February.
However, the narrow harvest window, combined with the highly perishable nature of tomatoes, often results in supply gluts that drive market prices down.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest producer of tomatoes, producing between 2.3 million and 3 million metric tonnes annually. Yet, industry reports indicate that the country loses between 40 and 60 per cent of its tomato output due to poor post-harvest handling, inadequate storage facilities, and limited processing capacity.
In Borno State, farmers say the situation has become particularly severe this 2025/2026 season.
Farmers Bear the Economic Burden
Malam Ardo Modu, a tomato farmer in Alau with over four decades of experience in dry-season farming, described the losses as unprecedented.
“I harvest about 30 baskets of tomatoes daily, but I have no buyers. Sometimes, we are left with no option but to dump the tomatoes because they rot and smell. The loss is unimaginable,” he told Daily Trust.
Modu explained that rising input costs have further compounded farmers’ vulnerability. Fertiliser prices, he noted, have surged to about N70,000 per bag, significantly increasing production costs and debt exposure for farmers who rely on credit to finance cultivation.
He also revealed that transport costs are often higher than the selling price of the produce, forcing farmers to discard harvested tomatoes rather than incur additional losses.
Similarly, another farmer, Muhammad Kudu, said many farmers attempt to salvage their produce by sun-drying tomatoes before spoilage sets in, although this method offers limited commercial value.
“Tomato farming is capital intensive. You need fuel for irrigation pumps, fertilisers, insecticides, and labour. When the harvest comes and you cannot sell, the losses are devastating,” he said.
Market Glut and Shifting Production Patterns
Agricultural experts say the crisis is partly driven by production shifts among farmers responding to volatile grain markets.
Magaji Zakari, an agricultural economist and lecturer, noted that falling grain prices pushed many farmers to switch to vegetable cultivation, particularly tomatoes, which promised quicker returns.
“The massive shift in production has flooded the market. When supply exceeds demand and there is no processing or storage system to absorb the surplus, price crashes become inevitable,” Zakari explained in an interview with Daily Trust.
He added that tomatoes, under tropical and humid conditions like those in Maiduguri, can deteriorate within 48 hours without cold storage.
Post-Harvest Infrastructure Deficit
Nigeria’s tomato industry has long struggled with weak cold-chain systems and limited agro-processing facilities. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates that post-harvest losses across Nigeria’s horticulture sector cost the country billions of naira annually and contribute significantly to food inflation and import dependence.
Despite being a major producer, Nigeria still spends substantial foreign exchange importing processed tomato products such as paste and puree. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria imports hundreds of thousands of tonnes of processed tomato products yearly to meet domestic demand.
Farmers in Borno argue that the lack of functional processing plants remains the biggest threat to the sustainability of tomato production.
Alaramma Zarami, another farmer, criticised what he described as policy inconsistency.
“Government encourages us to farm, but imported tomato products continue to dominate the market. Without local processing industries, farmers will continue to suffer,” he said.
Government Response and Emerging Interventions
In response to the growing crisis, the Borno State Ministry of Agriculture says it has taken steps to strengthen value addition.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Bawu Musami, disclosed that the state recently installed a modular tomato processing plant at its industrial park.
Musami added that the state government is exploring partnerships with private investors under Nigeria’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) initiative and the second phase of the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (START II) programme.
However, he acknowledged that gaps remain between government interventions and farmer awareness or access.
Industry data cited by the commissioner indicates that approximately 30 per cent of harvested tomatoes are lost due to poor handling and storage practices.
Implications for Agribusiness Stakeholders
The recurring tomato glut underscores broader systemic challenges within Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, including fragmented production planning, weak logistics infrastructure, and limited access to market intelligence for farmers.
Agribusiness analysts say addressing these challenges requires multi-stakeholder collaboration involving government agencies, private processors, development partners, and financial institutions.
Cold storage investments, contract farming arrangements, aggregation hubs, and scalable processing facilities are widely regarded as critical interventions that could stabilise tomato prices and reduce seasonal losses.
According to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), strengthening value addition and post-harvest infrastructure could significantly improve farmer incomes while reducing Nigeria’s reliance on imported processed foods.
A Sector at a Crossroads
For farmers in Borno and other tomato-producing states, the stakes are high. With climate variability, rising input costs, and market uncertainty already shaping agricultural productivity, stakeholders warn that failure to address post-harvest inefficiencies could discourage future investment in vegetable production.
Yet, experts also note that the crisis presents a major opportunity for investors and policymakers to unlock value within Nigeria’s horticulture sector, which remains one of the country’s most underdeveloped but economically promising agricultural sub-sectors.
As farmers continue to appeal for urgent intervention, the tomato industry stands at a critical juncture — one that will determine whether seasonal abundance continues to translate into economic loss or evolves into a sustainable value chain capable of supporting food security, job creation, and agro-industrial growth in Nigeria.