Residents of Hadejia in Jigawa State have decried hike in price of tomatoes, occasioned by the acute scarcity of perishable products.
The price of fresh tomatoes has shot up by more than 1,000 per cent in the past weeks, following sharp drop in supply of the commodities to the state.
A measure of fresh tomato now sells for N1,500 as against its old price of N100 few weeks ago.
It also observes that prices of onion and pepper have also slightly gone up.
A small basketful of pepper and onion now sells for N800 and N500 as against its previous prices of N200 and N100, respectively.
Some of the tomato sellers attributed the hike in price to drop in the supply of the product amid growing demand for the product.
Malam Dauda Idris, a tomato dealer in Hadejia, said that prices were up due to drop in supply occasioned by the hot weather condition.
Idris said that tomato and other perishables became wilted from the heat as they could not be preserved under hot temperature.
He said that several hectares of tomato plantation were destroyed to the scorching heat resulting in poor harvest this season.
According to him, tomatoes can not be kept for a longer period due to lack of modern preservation technology resulting in great amount of losses.
“Acute scarcity of tomato resulted in high price,” he said, adding that prices would further go up in view of the growing high demand of the produce.
A tomato farmer, Sadisu Abubakar, said that most farmers lost their plantations to the heat and pest infestation.
Abubakar said that the prevailing hot weather was not good for perishable cultivation, adding that the trend was having adverse affects on productivity.
He called for training of farmers on modern preservation technologies to check wastage of such agricultural produce.
Also commenting, Muhammad Babaji, a resident, decried the hike in tomato price, adding that it was beyond the reach of the common man due its exorbitant prices.
Babaji said that he now preferred dried tomatoes, in spite of its reduced poor test and nourisment.
Farmers in Hadejia engage in rain and irrigation farming, cultivating thousands hectares of tomatoes, pepper, onions, okra, cabbage and curly flower.
Other crops include lotus, vegetables, cucumber and water melon. rice, wheat, maize and beans.
