GOVERNOR Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said the state government was ready to address the over 40 percent post-harvest losses recorded by tomato farmers in the state annually.

The governor said this while addressing the state’s Tomato Stakeholders’ Forum in Kaduna, saying the state government was set to achieve the target within one year.

Represented by Dr Manzo Maigari, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry, El-Rufai said his administration had set a target to revolutionise agriculture from subsistence farming methods to agribusiness.

He said the state government was already providing an enabling environment and the needed support for stakeholders in the tomato sector to operate through investment, production and processing within the next three months.

He added that “we have provided tax holiday for investors and ensuring that they do not pay double or multiple taxation. We are also providing land and other infrastructure to investors to do business with ease in Kaduna State.”

According to him, the state government will collaborate with relevant stakeholders to set up tomato collection centres across producing areas to ease transportation from farms within the next six months.

He added that government was committed to improving the variety of tomato seeds to enhance quality in an-all-year round production value-chain within one year.

The governor said his administration had collaborated with various stakeholders, including Synergos Nigeria and Techno Serve in the training of farmers on methods to improve both quality and quantity of tomato in the state.

He noted that the state government had mapped out all farm lands in the state and would soon certify same for owners to use the documents in obtaining micro credits from commercial banks.

El-Rufai also explained that his administration had “no business in doing business”, hence the reason why it provided enabling environment for both local and foreign investors to set up businesses in the state.

Earlier, the National Vice President, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) Chief Emmanuel Ijewere had urged the state government to take urgent measures to tackle post-harvest losses in tomato production.

Ijewere said although the state was one of the biggest producers of tomato in the country, 40 per cent of the commodity was lost due to the lack of storage facilities and poor transportation system.

He appealed to the state government to invest more toward reducing such losses by setting up collection houses and aggregation centres across the state to ease transportation to markets.

He also appealed to the government to set up medium and small processing centres across the producing areas that would address post-harvest losses, as well as create employment to women and youth.

Ijewere also tasked the state government on enabling law for price standardisation and stabilisation that would add value and encourage farmers on all year round production.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Forum is expected to address the various challenges faced by tomato farmers in the state. (NAN)

– Feb.  22, 2018 @ 04:35 GMT |