Today’s Agri-business
Harvesting season is here and farmers are counting losses instead of reaping the fruits of their labour.
Stakeholders attribute these to ills surrounding post-harvest management of crops, largely emanating from poor value chain development, infrastructural challenges and market inaccessibility nevertheless process and packaging is the way out.
In Nigeria, tomatoes are grown in large and commercial scales especially in the North but consumed equally across the length and breadth of the entire country. Tomatoes are either used fresh or processed into paste, puree, ketchup and powder.
Unfortunately, they are not only seasonal but highly perishable and deteriorate few days after harvest, which dampens the farmer’s spirit to farming as he is forced to sell off produce at a loss to avert imminent total wastage.
Canning of tomato paste has helped to curb this huge wastage, but the capital intensive nature of the industry had resulted in only a small percentage of the product being absorbed by this industry. Dried tomatoes by direct drying in the sun are more durable but the end product is infested with dirt.
Canning of tomato paste has helped in curbing wastage in tomato farming especially during the season, but the capital intensive nature of the industry, the alteration in the taste of the product canned (as additives are added to aid in preservation) and the bulky nature of the paste product as well as poor durability have all contributed to limiting the establishment of canning industries in Nigeria. As a result, only a small percentage of the product is absorbed by this industry.
Dried tomatoes though more durable and without any need for additives are currently produced by direct drying in the sun and in the open. The end product is infested with dirt and sand making it unhygienic to consume.
However, with the introduction of electrical solar-driven drying system, electrical powered dryer such as cabinet dryer, flash dryer, spray dryer, which can dry a tone of tomato in an hour, powder tomato has become an agribusiness to venture with a good return on investment and the season for tomatoes is fast approaching.
This is the solution to post-harvest challenges faced in the tomatoes value CHAINS.
Machinery for powder tomato production
- Washing Machine for washing the tomato’s to be clean.
- Cutting Machine used in cutting tomatoes into cube, dice or small pieces. The dicing size can be 3mm/5mm/7mm/10mm/15mm adjustable.
- Dehydration Table: After cutting tomatoes into small pieces you spread it on the dehydrating table so that about 40% to 60% of the water content will be drained before drying.
- Drying Machine: Most preferable is cabinet dryer which will be used to dry sliced tomato’s to a zero moisture content level before grinding to powdered form.
Grinding crushed dried tomato’s into powdered form before packaging it.
Packaging can be done with either plastic container or sachet but you have to verify the cost of the packaging material to know which is relatively cheaper.
All the mentioned machines can be imported or fabricated in Nigeria.
Requirements
- Raw Material (Tomatoes) which is seasonal
- Machinery
- Factory location must be close to raw material
- Company registration: NAFDAC and other agencies’ registration
The return on investment is high because raw materials are seasonal and in the season you will have more than enough to process out of season you will be smiling to the bank.
For instance, a basket of tomatoes in the northern part of Nigeria; Giwa, Mekarafi, all in Kaduna state is going for N1,200 during the season and in the south, it is going for N3,500, even in Kaduna town, it’s going for N2,200 when the supply is higher than the demand and a good number of the tomatoes doesn’t see the market before it gets spoilt.
Having your processing plant close to farms is key to the availability and cheapness of raw materials for optimal profits.
NOTE: These machinery can be powered with solar and has the capacity to dry a tone of tomatoes or other agric produce in an hour.
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