GRAVC Visits TOMATO JOS Farm In Kaduna, To Partner On Food Production, Distribution

By Frederick Peters, KADUNA

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: The Grassroot Agricultural Value Chain, Investment Limited ( GRAVC) under the EasyLife Plan for grassroot Development empowerment project, has visited Tomato JOS farming and processing Limited, makers of Tomato Jos paste, in Kaduna, Nigeria.

The visit by the Gravc Management and State Directors to the farm is aimed at unveiling and facilitating areas of collaboration to enhance both organizations among other things.

Speaking, the General Manager Factory operations, Tomato Jos, Limited, Victor Garuba, an expert on food science and technology, with over 24 years working experience in manufacturing, said,

” We started manufacturing in 2021 and we have launched two products varieties, Sku 1 is pure Tomato mix and our SKU2, is Tomato, pepper and onion mix and we are also working on other products”

According to him, the company is ” the only company that has succeeded in farming, processing and selling tomatoes into retail packs to what we have, compared to other companies that do related products in Nigeria” he said

Describing the visit by GRAVC EasyLife team to his farm” I think this visit is a very big surprise, partnering with Gravc is very important to me, because it’s another milestone when it comes to business manufacturing and distribution, so I am really impressed by the visit I saw with my eyes today from Gravc business enterprise. I thank you so much

” so what I hope from here, is that both parties, both Tomato Jos farming and processing Limited and GRAVC will have a good business relationship that will take us to better benefits that will benefit both companies, thank you for the business relationship.

He however lamented over some obvious challenges ” The cost of research and development is very high, ” Cost of raw material is also very high, cost of distribution is a challenge because of our bad roads and again energy cost in Nigeria is on the high side, we know the cost of a litre of petrol and diesel and I am using diesel to run my system for 24 hours and it’s a very huge cost on our side,

” we’re looking for an alternative where we can diversify into gas energy source and solar energy source to cut down the cost of our production then if we are able to do that, the cost of production will also reduce and cost of distribution to end users will be a thing to enjoy both together and as a company” he assured.

Responding, the National Coordinator and CEO, Gravc Investment Limited/ EasyLife Plan Project, Joseph Ekundayo Jolaoluwa, impressed with the visit, said” our focus is to see how we can make life easy for farmers and traders and also encourage those that are trying to retire to have something they can fall back to and currently we have about ten thousand hectare of land which we have started our major plantation on economic trees like pawpaw, cocoa nuts and palm trees”

He said “What informed this visit is to elaborate the state directors, because we cut across all the states in Nigeria, as you can see, every one you see here is a state director and their secretaries, they visit here so that we can elaborate them, so that we can have a partnership

” and also see how we can partner together to promote this business of tomatoes and what also attracted us is that they are organic in nature. you see most of these products out there are chemicalized, but what we have seen here is purely natural and that is what has attracted us and we want to take the message to the grassroot, so that they can benefit from it and partner and also buy the products

” We are very impressed with what we have seen, I was already here before now, and saw it and said it’s important to bring my team here to really see what is happening here, and to see how every body can take it to their state and local governments for them to patronise this very company ” he said

Lending his voice, the Branch Head, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation ( NAIC,) Kaduna Aminu Isa Bello, described the visit to Tomato Jos Farm, as ” wonderful, very impressive, in fact our visit to the Tomato Jos Farm is so wonderful, I can tell you it’s the first time visiting there, and am so impressed and I had the opportunity to introduce what we do at NAIC”

He called on government at all levels and spirited Nigerians to support and collaborate with farms like this in enhancing natural and quality food production ” You know Agriculture is the backbone of every thing, so government has to support them in terms of helping them through loan facility”

He further urged the Authorities to come to the aid of Tomato Jos Farm, and others, to surmount several challenges faced in contributing their quota to economic growth ” so we are calling on government to come to their aid in terms of easy loan facilities” he reiterated.