The Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods Limited,
Chief Eric Umeofia, has said every year, over 75 per cent of tomatoes harvested are wasted in the hands of farmers while Nigeria remains the largest importer of tomato paste in the world. He made the observation when he received the
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige;
a former senator, Florence Ita Giwa; and other
dignitaries who came on a factory tour of Erisco
Foods Limited on Friday.
He said, “It may interest you to know that Nigeria is
the biggest importer of tomato paste in the world
while over 75 per cent of fresh tomatoes harvested
get wasted in the hands of our farmers yearly due
to the fact that there is no means of making use of
them industrially.”

According to Umeofia, who
is a major stakeholder in the
tomato paste and food
processing sector, unlike
China where there is only
one favourable planting and
harvest season, Nigeria is
blessed with two favourable
planting and harvest
seasons.
He added, “Worst still, both the Indians that form
the majority of the people that import fake/
substandard tomato paste into Nigeria, and China
that produces the fake/ substandard tomato paste
does not consume, in their own countries, the same
quality of tomato paste they produce and dump on
Nigeria. Still they pay little or nothing as import
duty.”
He said the directive from President Muhammadu
Buhari that Nigerians should produce what they
would need and eat had spurred his firm into
creating a means of converting fresh and dried
tomato fruits into paste.
“Through converting of fresh tomato into paste,
Nigeria will be able to save over $1bn (N280bn)
being spent annually on the importation of tomato
paste. In addition, we will export and earn hundreds
of millions of US dollars in 2017 after meeting the
tomato need of every Nigerian in December 2016,
provided the government stops the dumping of
fake/ substandard tomato paste on us.
“We are set to employ over 50,000 youths in two to
three years with over five million indirect jobs for
farmers and other people in the value chain in our
Katsina, Jigawa and Sokoto states backward
integration projects that are currently ongoing.”
He disclosed that the firm was set to start
production from its Katsina project in the first
quarter of 2017, adding that this could only be made
possible with the support of Nigerians.
In his address, the labour minister, who was
represented by the General Manager, Nigeria Social
Insurance Trust Fund, Mrs. Olufunke Aleshinloye,
commended Erisco for the innovation of converting
dried and fresh tomato fruits into paste, adding that
it was a laudable accomplishment.
He said, “The Nigerian economy needs this kind of
innovation and diversification, which in turn has led
to job creation in the agricultural sector with regard
to the feeder farms that provide raw materials; the
engineers that set up the production plant and
maintain its constant functioning; the factory
workers that turn the raw materials into finished
product that is then marketed by entrepreneurs,
wholesalers and retailers.”