Families in Kaduna are finding alternatives to tomato in their kitchens after scarcity pushed up price of tomatoes.
Carrot, cucumber, ginger and crayfish are growingly replacing tomato on home recipes women have been willing to share with Daily Trust.
Faced with scarcity and high cost of tomatoes, Halima Ibrahim unlisted tomato from among ingredients for her stew.
"I now blend carrot and cucumber, mix in fresh onions and pepper to make my stew since the tomato scarcity started,” she said.
“And when you taste the stew, I can assure you that it tastes better than stew made with tomato.”
The scarcity hit after more than 200 tomato farms were ravaged by a virus called Tuta absolute, which has since become known as ‘Tomato Ebola”
It has led to import of canned tomato paste, many of them from China, and considered substandard, prompting a call by the Association of Agricultural Products and Equipment Manufacturers in Nigeria (APEMAN) for a nationwide ban on tomato paste import.
“Tomato is now too expensive for me to buy since the tomato Ebola occurred, and instead of me to buy tinned tomato that I do not know how it is produced or where it was brought from, I prefer to use carrots and cucumber. At least my family will be healthy,” said Ibrahim.
Jamila Aliyu has replaced tomato with ginger, crayfish, onions and pepper to make her stew. "In fact, my children like the new stew better than the old. If you see them licking their plates, you will be shocked and I think even when the situation improves, I will stick to my recipe."
Naomi Kantiyok, a housewife from Barnawa Area of Kaduna state said, "Today, tomatoes is a no-go area because it is no longer affordable, a basket that used to cost N1,500 now goes for N40,000. If I buy the basket of tomatoes, what will I cook it with since all the money is used to get just one food item?
"What I do now is buy tinned tomato that is known to me, not the new ones that are springing up because of the scarcity, then I will grind fresh pepper and onions to fry my stew. It comes out very nice and it expands more than stew made from fresh tomatoes."
The tomato scarcity has left Ibrahim Mohammed with a decision four times difficult.
"I have four wives. How then can I manage this situation if I have to buy tomatoes worth N3,500 for each of my wives for just one pot of soup? Times are hard, so we just have to make do with what we have," he said.
He resolved to stop buying tomatoes for stew and instructed his wives to devise any other means to cook jellof rice with tomato paste or palm oil.
Food vendor Maman Do, switched to tomato paste after deciding she could “afford tomatoes any longer because my business is suffering.”
“I cook food but I don't make anything, rather I incur losses, so I have shifted to using tomatoes paste for all my cooking including stew, soup, jollof rice and pepper soup especially know that onions and pepper are being included in some tomato paste."
She also noted the influx of several brands of tomato paste, she agreed. “But I do not patronize them, I buy the tomato paste that I have been using over the years because one does not know what is contained in the other ones."
Margaret Yakubu planned ahead for the season, buying tomatoes on the cheap and drying them to last through the scarcity.
"I normally buy a lot of tomatoes during dry season because that is when it is cheapest. I cannot store it in my refrigerator because there is erratic power supply, so I dry the tomatoes and store in sacks until the rains set in and the fruits become scarce. Just as if I knew tomato Ebola was coming.”
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Is this why cucumber is now expensive?