Dry season farmers in Katsina State have expressed optimism in tomato production this year as the commodity appears promising.
Like wheat farmers, many tomato producers this year aimed to cover the loss they incurred in wet season flood and pest attack.
Sani Zubairu, a farmer in Faskari Local Government Area, said there was no way wet season farming only could feed the country considering its growing population.
“Food demand is fast growing domestically; hence the need to improve on our irrigation activities. Last wet season, rice and maize farmers suffered loss due to either flood or pest attack. To cover the deficit, many of them have taken to riverside of their villages to produce tomato,” Zubairu said.
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He added that the amount of rainfall experienced in the last season has now become advantageous to dry season farmers along the river banks, as well as small dams.
Mannir Abdullahi, a tomato farmer in Danja Local Government Area, said the bane of this year’s production was the high cost of fertiliser, water pump machine and other inputs.
“This year, beginners will suffer the problem of capital with growing market prices of inputs. A water pump machine that was sold at N25,000 last four years is now N65,000. Prices of fertiliser range from N23,500 to N27,000 per bag. Apart from the high cost of seeds, a litre of petrol we use in powering our pumping machines is now N280,” he said.
Abdullahi added that pest threats come in the second phase of the tomato production, beginning from March. The first phase that started from October recorded minimum cases of pest attack; hence the farmers spend less on pesticides.
Our correspondent observed from Dandume, Danja and Bakori markets that since last year, the price of tomato has been good to farmers considering its growing demand and high cost of food items in the country.
As at last Friday, a big basket of tomato was sold at N5,500 and a crate was N4,000.
