Olam Nigeria’s Pilot Farming Project To Boost Nigeria’s Tomato Value Chain

In line with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s initiative to attain self-sufficiency in tomato production and processing, Olam, a leading player in the Nigerian agriculture value chain recently embarked on a pilot farming project in the country. Executing the project through its subsidiary, Caraway Africa Nigeria Ltd, it acquired 20 hectares of land for this purpose and set up farms in Karfi, Kano State, as well as Masama and Guri, both located in Jigawa State. The farms are solely dedicated to the production of tomatoes.
While the tomatoes were transplanted in October 2019, harvest commenced in February 2020. Reji George, Olam Nigeria’s Vice President in charge of Farming Initiatives, said preliminary results point to a bountiful harvest.
He stated that each of the farms were on course to produce 30 metrics tons of tomato per hectare, as
against the 7.5 metric tons per hectare which is Nigeria’s average yield for tomato.
RejiaddedthatthecommercialpilotfarminginitiativewhichOlamNigeriaisembarkinguponthrough Caraway Africa Nigeria, is a precursor to a backward integration project for tomato paste production which will commence in March2021.
AmajorchallengeconfrontingtheproductionoftomatoesinNigeriaisalackofgoodvarietyseedsto buy.Anotherproblemisextremelypooryieldsaslowtomatoproductionleadtohigherprices,thereby making it unattractive for processors to purchase. These challenges are also linked to the unwillingness of farmers to produce tomatoes in large quantity because they want to avoid product decay and losses because of lack of proper storage and preservationfacilities.
Addressing the challenge of poor tomato seeds, Reji said Olam has signed an MOU with the World Vegetable Centre, a globally renowned research institute and prominent seed producer and developer, for the supply of 18 varieties of seeds, exclusively for Caraway Africa Nigeria. He added: “We have also decided to go for an additional eight varieties of hybrid tomato seeds already existing inNigeriawhichhaveahigheryieldpotential,butwhichthefarmersarenotusingbecauseofthecost. We have selected tomato seed varieties which produce fresh tomatoes as well as the variants which are good for tomatoprocessing.”
The tomatoes which are being currently harvested at the Caraway Africa Nigeria Kano and Jigawa farms,areconsideredtobeofahigherqualitythanwhatiscurrentlybeingproducedbyotherfarmers in terms of size, quality and weight. The tomatoes are products of the Nigerian hybrid seeds and the World Vegetable Centre seeds which were planted on a trialbasis.
Alhaji Uba Idris Dogara, owner of Dogara Farms, who has been farming for 35 years, attested to the quality of the recently harvested tomatoes. He said: “I’m an old-time tomato farmer but the method Olam brought to this place is looking better than the previous method we were using. I have seen a lotofchangesintheiryieldsthanwhatwehavebeengettingbefore.Thereisabigimprovement.This method is better than what we haveseen.”
EmmanuelAgbo,FarmManageroftheMasamaFarmandMohammedSaulawa,FarmManager,Abur Farm, both owned by Olam Nigeria and located in Jigawa State, said the quality of thetomatoes have attractedfarmerswhohavevisitedtheirfarms,curioustoknowaboutthefarmingmethodsthathave produced suchyields.

Speakingontheattraction,Saulawasaid:“Theyhaveseenthedifferenceintermsofthefruitsizeand the agronomic practices that we have employed here which are not the conventional farming practices that they are used to. You can keep the tomato variety for a week without it getting spoilt, unlike what the farmers take to the market which decays by the second day. They have seen how we apply fertilizer and how we are consistent with our spray regime. They are visiting the farm to understudy and see how they can replicate these methods in their ownfarms.”
Reji George added that Olam, through Caraway Africa Nigeria Ltd., would soon commence a farmer’s outgrower programme as a means of supporting the farmers and also boosting tomato production in Nigeria.Accordingtohim,1,000farmerswillbeengagedinthefirstyear,whileOlamplanstoacquire about 500 hectares of land for the purpose which would kick off by September 2020. The first set of tomatoesfromitsfarmeroutgrowerinitiativewouldbereadyforharvestbyFebruary2021.Headded that the firm was in discussions with developmental organisations to build the capacities of the outgrower famers in the areas of tomato planting andcultivation.
According to him, the farmer outgrower programme would be modelled after the Olam Rice Outgrower initiative, which he described as the best outgrower scheme in Nigeria.
Hefurtheraddedthatthetomatoesfortheprocessingplantwouldbesourcedthroughyieldsfromits own commercial farms, yields from the farmers under its outgrower initiative and buying through agents in the openmarket.
Speaking on how to stem post-harvest losses, Reji stated that the tomatoes would be taken to the
firm’s processing facility on the same day of harvest.
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