Tomato Farmers in Makurdi Benue State in Nigeria are lamenting on the wastage of Tomatoes due to lack of buyers and storage facilities in the area.
In a recent interview with the news agency of Nigeria they pleaded with the state government to make available industrial processing plants in areas where they have surplus tomatoes to help preserve them.
“We have places where these tomatoes are cultivated in large quantities, we need processing industries around these areas to help in the storage and preservation of these tomatoes” a farmer lamented.
They added that this will go a long way in curbing wastages and creating a form of revenue for the Farmers and State at Large.
The rainy season happens to be a season where tomatoes are cultivated in large quantities in Benue and it hurts the farmers to see the tomatoes wasted with no buyers to buy in large quantities.
Ternongo a Farmer said that farmers in the area do not know how to preserve their tomatoes and he also called on the government to provide good seedlings to the farmers to enable the tomatoes stay longer after harvesting.
He said there are organic good seedlings if provided to the farmers will enable the tomatoes stay up to three months so that they don’t spoil quickly.
