How much is a Basket of Tomatoes in Nigeria?
Tomatoes are usually sold in baskets in Nigeria. It is not unusual to get a question like, how much is a basket of tomatoes?
Tomato remains one of the most popular vegetables in Nigeria. It is consumed by almost all Nigerians, if not all. There is a high probability that you will consume food containing tomato every day.
Tomato farming is widely done by farmers in Nigeria.
The baskets used for packing of freshly harvested tomatoes in Nigeria are made from raffia. Despite the inadequacies of the raffia baskets, they are still very common in Nigeria as farmers prefer them to plastic crates.
The price of tomatoes in Nigeria
Tomatoes are sold in baskets for wholesalers and retailers in all the local markets in Nigeria. These markets are usually the biggest open markets in big cities and towns in Nigeria.
Tomatoes are packed in baskets of sizes of 10kg, 20kg, 25kg, 40kg, 50kg and 60kg. The prices of a basket of tomatoes vary. The prices are usually high in the months of May, June and July because farmers hardly grow tomato in these months.
In the months of September to March every year in Nigeria, the prices of baskets of tomatoes are usually low.
In the month of May – July, the price of a 60kg basket of tomatoes in Mile 12 market, Lagos can be between N20,000 – N30,000 while in the other months of the year, the price can fall as low as N7,500.
Dry season tomato farming enables farmers to sell their produce at high prices.
How baskets of tomatoes are moved from the farms to markets
About 80% of the tomato crop is grown in the northern part of Nigeria. The states of Kano, Plateau, Kaduna, Gombe, kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Nasarawa and Taraba etc are the largest producers of tomato in Nigeria.
Tomatoes are usually harvested on the farms and packed in raffia made baskets. The baskets are transported from the farms to the local village markets. From the local village markets, the baskets of tomatoes are transported to big towns and cities around Nigeria.
Some of the baskets of tomatoes are taken to countries like the Republic of Benin, Niger and Chad.
The Mile 12 market, Lagos is the largest tomato market in Nigeria. Several hundreds of trucks offload fresh tomatoes in this market every day.
The Mile 12 market, Lagos supplies the whole of Lagos fresh tomatoes. It also supplies markets in neighbouring towns like Abeokuta and Ijebu Ode.
Do you sell tomatoes in baskets? If yes, why not share the prices with us in the comments’ section.
