Vegefresh Group, a top agro business conglomerate is building multimillion naira tomato processing factory at Imeko, Ogun State to support farmers to grow more high-value crops.
Speaking in Lagos after receiving a delegation of chiefs from Imeko, led by Oba Benjamin Oyeditan-Olantie, the Group Chaiman, Prince Samuel Johnson Samuel, said the project which will also involve tomato cultivation in 3000 hectares, noted that out of the amount, contract farmers will be engaged to farm on 2000 hectares.
By engaging the farmers, Samson said the company will protect them from losses as tomato is vulnerable to price shifts and external market factors.
The effects, according to him, are hard felt with farmers losing so much in earnings, affecting the employment of hundreds of thousand people involved in production as small-scale producers were unable to cover costs of production.
Given the structural changes within the sector, he noted it is clear that large numbers of farmers will never be able to effectively compete in the transformed market, adding that the company needs to work with them to identify opportunities that will provide a higher income.
In addition, the projects being implemented specifically target rural development as it promote new opportunities for trade, investment and rural economic prosperity by promoting agricultural diversification and off-farm employment for the area’s inhabitants.
The company, he said is prepared to assist farmers with access to input, including seed, fertiliser and know-how.
Farmers, according to him, are facing serious logistical problems, and crops are often unable to make it to the market in time.
According to him, storage facilities are insufficient, so they lose their harvest.
To address this, he said his organisation is establishing a crushing plant to help farmers process their produce.
The other plan, according to him, is to increase the land area under irrigation using available water resources.
The plan is to increase investment in water storage and secure water sources.
Samuel said the company needs to expand irrigation to cover the whole farm area instead of depending on rain-fed agriculture.
He said Vegefresh had a major tomato processing plant in Bauchi State, which has not been functioning because of the activities of Boko Haram.
To this end, he said the company decided to implement its South West development plan, pending when the activities of the insurgents will be brought under control.
The Onimeko of Imeko, Oba Oyeditan-Olantie said the community is ready to support Vegefresh to promote economic diversification and competitiveness of the area.
According to him, increasing the overall competitiveness of the sector through the project run, the monarch noted, would transform smallholder production and marketing systems to boost productivity and incomes.
He thanked the group for embarking on the project as it will help to develop profitable agricultural product value chains and make farms more attractive to agribusi-ness in the value chain.
If it pulls through, the project would have unleashed its own agrarian revolution — as well a modest green revolution throughout the community.
Together with locals, the project is organising tomato-growing farmers into groups and will taught them the basics of cropping, farm economics, tomato and tomato seedling production, business planning, and marketing.
With the project’s assistance, participating farmers could increase their tomato yield.
The increase yield will result in additional income for the participating farmers.
In addition to increasing profits, the project will facilitate large, group quantity purchases of fertiliser, seeds, and other inputs, thus resulting in a more than decrease in the price.
