Researchers in the United States of America have developed a new technology that can trap photosynthetic energy capable of increasing crop productivity by at least 40 per cent. The researchers explained that “plants convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis but most crops on the planet are plagued by a photosynthetic glitch, and to deal with…

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said the Federal Government will provide solar-powered cold rooms in Kano State for the preservation of tomatoes, The minister disclosed this at the First National Tomato Stakeholders Summit in Kano on Thursday‎. The cold rooms, he added, would be installed in about 15 locations…

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has commended an indigenous producer of tomato, Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms Limited, for deploying the use of greenhouse technology to produce exportable tomatoes in the country. The Executive Director, NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo, explained that with the technology, Nigeria could now start to export tomatoes to every part of the…

Tomato sellers in Ilorin, Kwara, have said that lack of irrigation farming was one of the reasons for the increase in the price of the commodity in the state. The sellers, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday at Mandate Market, Ilorin, said that the state also lacked sufficient tomato farmers.…

Nigeria is set to reap improved gains from the tomato value chain, as the Post-harvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition (PLAN), expands its capacity building/training for citizens on appropriate processing methods and packaging technologies.     The recent training, held in Kaduna, had 30 participants from both public and private sectors as PLAN, an initiative of the…

Picture this: cutting your fingers while trying to break a coconut or crying like a baby because of an onion. Sounds tough, right? Cooking can be a lot more fun when you spend less time in the kitchen peeling, grating, cracking open and whatnot (unless you find pleasure in all of these). These hacks will…

The federal government in April this year announced a new tomato policy aimed at promoting local production of fresh tomato, increasing local production of tomato concentrate and reducing post-harvest losses.

There are strong indications that farmers may have successfully contained the menace of Tuta Absoluta, the pest which ravaged tomato farms across the country in 2015 and 2016.

In the last 10 months, the FADAMA II Additional Financing project financed by the World Bank has supported 10845 farmers comprising 585 youths, 1575 females and 8685 males.

The Vice President of the Dangote Group of Company, Sani Dangote has said stiff competition from about 30 industries that import tomato paste from China caused its Tomato Manufacturing plant in Kano to shut down.

A lot has been written about Nigeria’s inability to attain self-sufficiency in tomato paste production in the nearest future. Some of the writings have been laced with outright falsehood to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that it is impossible in the meantime to produce tomato paste locally; while some are sponsored by the cabal that are…

And now that the country’s fortunes are dwindling, the folly of neglecting this vital sector and the resultant unsavoury effects are staring everyone squarely in the face