…Families Switch To Substitutes As Price Soars
…Stakeholders Finger Insecurity, Policy Gaps, Post-Harvest Losses
…Say FG Must Treat Production As National Food Security Issue
LAGOS – In Nigeria today, the soaring price of tomatoes has become a national conversation, and not for good reasons. What used to be a staple food item that every average Nigerian could afford has suddenly turned into a luxury.
From Lagos to Sokoto, Port Harcourt to Abuja, the complaint is the same: tomatoes are now too expensive.
In some markets, the price of a basket has shot up from ₦3,000 in March 2025 to over ₦35,000 in June 2025.
The most painful part of this inflation is that the common man, already grappling with high fuel prices, epileptic electricity supply, and galloping inflation, now has to adjust his diet and lifestyle because tomatoes, a mere vegetable, have become unaffordable.
Without a doubt, scarcity of tomatoes has become a recurring nightmare. Each year, around this time, the story is the same. Nigeria finds itself in a seasonal tomato crisis due to a production-consumption mismatch. And yet, year after year, no tangible long-term solution is in place. The current spike in prices has been attributed by key stakeholders to off-season production, insecurity, policy gaps, and post-harvest losses.
Sani Danladi, Chairman of the Tomato Out-Growers Association of Nigeria (TOGAN), Kano State chapter told Daily Independent that the country is currently between harvest season, that dry season farming has ended, and the rainy season crop is yet to mature, a dangerous gap that Nigeria has consistently failed to bridge.
“We are out of tomato season because the dry season production has ended. The few tomatoes available now are from farmers who managed to grow them in small portions. That’s why tomatoes are very costly now,” Danladi said.
As gathered, Nigeria’s tomato production is highly dependent on weather conditions. Most farmers still rely on rainfall rather than irrigation, which limits farming to particular months of the year. Unlike countries with developed agricultural systems that support all-year-round production through greenhouses and drip irrigation, Nigeria continues to treat agriculture as a seasonal gamble.
There are very few structured policies to encourage or protect off-season production.
Government interventions, such as subsidised irrigation tools, soft loans, or climate-smart farming technologies, are largely inaccessible to smallholder farmers who produce over 80 percent of the country’s tomatoes. As such, many of them abandon tomato farming during the off-season, leading to drastic supply shortages and skyrocketing prices.
It is deeply ironic that Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest tomato producer, after Egypt, and yet it still imports hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of tomato paste each year.
Nigeria produces an average of 1.8 to 2.3 million metric tons of tomatoes annually, according to both Danladi, Bola Oyeleke, President of the Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria (TOPAN).
Yet, national consumption stands at around 2.6 million metric tons, leaving a production deficit of at least 300,000 metric tons.
In fact, the country continues to struggle with this gap despite abundant land, labour, and demand. Worse still, more than 45 percent of the tomatoes produced annually rot away before they reach the market due to poor handling, transportation inefficiencies, and lack of cold storage, this translates to over one million metric tons of tomatoes wasted every year.
Insecurity has become a major disincentive to farming. Northern Nigeria, particularly Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Zamfara, and Plateau, which constitutes the country’s tomato belt, has witnessed unrelenting attacks by bandits, kidnappers, and insurgents. Thousands of farmers have been killed, displaced, or forced to abandon farming for safety.
“People are scared to go to their farms, and not many investors are willing to put money into agriculture in the region like before,” said Bola Oyeleke, President of TOPAN.
However, while TOGAN tries to downplay the effect of insecurity in some states, the truth remains that widespread violence across the North has affected mobility, labour availability, and investment in farming infrastructure. When people cannot farm, supply diminishes, and prices inevitably rise.
Even when tomatoes are successfully harvested, Nigeria still loses nearly half of them due to poor logistics and primitive storage methods. Farmers still use raffia baskets, and transporters use open trucks that expose the produce to sunlight, dust, and mechanical damage during long journeys. With no cold chain systems, tomatoes start to decompose just hours after being harvested.
The few companies involved in tomato processing, like Dangote Tomato Processing Plant in Kadawa, operate far below capacity due to inconsistent supply and policy somersaults. The plant, which was built to process 1,200 tons of tomatoes per day, often runs for only a few weeks each year. Why? Because it cannot get consistent supply from farmers.
It is astounding to note from a few consumers that a basket of tomatoes now costs a fortune. Field reports from major Nigerian markets paint a grim picture: In Lagos at Mile 12 Market, a basket sold for N30,000-N35,000 in June 2025. In Abuja at Garki Market, it goes for N28,000-N33,000 per basket. In Kano at Dawanau Market, a basket of tomatoes sells at N22,000- N26,000. In Ibadan, at Bodija Market, it goes for N25,000-N30,000, and in Port Harcourt, a bowl of tomatoes goes for N2,500-N3,000.
Compare this to N3,000-N5,000 per basket just a few months ago.
Rather than solving the problem locally, Nigeria continues to import over $500 million worth of tomato paste annually. Ironically, these imports are sometimes cheaper and more consistent in availability than fresh tomatoes grown locally. Tomato paste from China and Italy flood Nigerian markets, undercutting local processors and discouraging local farmers.
This unsustainable dependency robs Nigeria of jobs, devalues the naira, and drains foreign reserves, all because of failures in domestic production, logistics, and processing.
At the end of the day, it is the poor consumer that bears the brunt. Families now resort to tatase (red bell pepper), bawa (chili pepper), and even palm oil stew because tomatoes are no longer affordable. Many bukas (local canteens) have cut back on tomato-based meals, while others charge extra for jollof rice and stew due to rising ingredient costs.
For a nation with rising unemployment, stagnant wages, and worsening inflation, the tomato crisis is not just a food issue, it is a humanitarian warning sign.
On the way forward, Daily Independent gathered that the four-point action plan is the way forward. To end this recurring nightmare, Nigeria must treat tomato production as a national food security issue. The following steps are urgent: Government-backed off-season farming, subsidise greenhouses, drip irrigation systems, and water pumps, and offer tax holidays for tomato producers and processors.
On security in farming zones, it was gathered that there is need for the deployment of agro-rangers and joint task forces to protect key farming regions as well creating safe zones for agribusiness operations in volatile areas.
On the issue of post-harvest infrastructure, it was gathered that there are needs for the establishment of rural cooling hubs and storage depots, replacement of raffia baskets with plastic crates, and provision of refrigerated trucks under public-private partnership.
On the issue of supporting the processing industry, it was also gathered that stabilising energy supply for processors, promoting local paste with quality standards and import restrictions, and linking farmers directly with processors through cooperatives and aggregation centres would go a long way in crashing the price of tomatoes.
Without a doubt, the tomato crisis is a mirror reflecting the larger rot in Nigeria’s agricultural policy framework. What should be a profitable, employment-generating, food-secure commodity has been turned into a symbol of dysfunction.
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