High cost of tomato, pepper puts families, traders in quandary

By Agatha Emeadi

Despite during the civil war, when famine hit the country and there was scarcity of healthy vegetables like tomatoes and pepper, which prices then soared to the rooftops, Nigerians have never had such experience again until now. 
At the moment, the prices of tomato and pepper in the country, particularly Lagos State, has risen astronomically beyond the reach of many.
Consequently, resilient Nigerians have devised new ways to survive the scarcity of tomato and pepper by now cooking their stews with different ingredients.
A visit to Ketu and Mile 12 markets, which are known dominant stock places for these items, it was noticed that buyers of tomatoes and pepper were scanty as the prices of the few ingredients seen on display were prohibitive.
Alhaji Abubakar, who has been in the tomatoes and pepper business for eight years said that the scarcity of the two items has hit hard on the market.
He said: “My sister, it has not been easy for us who are traders. Since I started this business, tomato and pepper’s prices have never soared the much it is today.”
Abubakar blamed the high price of tomatoes and pepper on climate situation, insecurity and transportation cost.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to proffer solution to the high cost of foodstuff in the country, especially tomatoes and pepper.
The few baskets of the items seen in the market were as expensive as a small basket that was sold for between N20,000 and N22,000 now selling for N65,000. The biggest basket which was sold for N62,000 now sells for between N120,000 and N140,000, including the rotten ones hidden under the basket.
Abubakar also disclosed that from all indications, the cost of pepper might soar higher than that of tomato in the days ahead.
Interestingly, as the prices of foodstuff have refused to crash, the women community of a church organized a three-hour retreat entitled: “How to manage the trial time.”
The retreat became important as a result of series of complaints from both husbands and wives on managing and mismanaging the economic situation.
Mrs Agnes Nwajei, who is the convener and a marriage counsellor said: “The economy is really pushing hard on homes and if care is not taken, we may begin to experience multiple squabbles which we all might regret.
“Now that tomato and pepper have become ‘untouchable’, know that the market for various types of vegetables seems to have gotten upper hand.
“Women have made new discoveries and resorted to use them to beat the hard times posed by expensive tomato and pepper saga. Do not strangle your husband to vomit money for this expensive tomato and pepper.
“I know that in every home, Sunday white rice and stew is a must. I call you fellow women, join the moving train, it is a phase that will surely expire.”
Indeed, with the increase in the scarcity of these important stew ingredients, so many homes have gone through various researches and discovered new ways of keeping up with the time and season.
The Okafor family of five resides at Ago area of Okota. They are a middle-class family.
When asked how she is managing the lack and high cost of tomato in the market, Mrs Okafor said: “I have resorted to vegetables for my Sunday rice and tin-tomatoes for ordinary rice days. Growing up, Sunday white rice and stew was sacrosanct in our home, the same I brought into my own home when I got married. Since tomato has gone out of hand, I use vegetables like Ugu (Pumpkin leaf), green and nchanwu (scent leaf) in place of tomatoes. I still use my normal meat and chicken, then my vegetable becomes the base. The adjustment was not too easy for my children, but they had no choice. I discovered that whatever tomatoes do to stew is also what I have introduced for our compulsory Sunday white rice. This will be our food until tomato and pepper economy improves.”
Mrs Francis, a teacher in one of the neighbouring schools also said: “This tomato saga has become a major challenge. I searched through online and discovered that some women were making cucumber and carrot stew.
“Then, I decided to give it a trial. I bought three sizeable cucumbers, washed, sliced and blended them without the seeds as choice. I drained it because what I need was the chaff. I learnt that the water and pineapple can make a good juice too. The same way I prepare my stew with fresh tomatoes was the same way I prepared my cucumber stew.
“Although I added tomato puree and mixed it with the cucumber chaff, I got exactly what I needed for my family. I will try out carrot stew as seen online next week. I will be alternating vegetables like cucumber, carrot and beetroot for colour until tomato price normalizes. I have also heard of water-melon stew, all will be tried out one after the other until we return to tomatoes.”
Interestingly, the women have really gone ahead to push the expensive tomato into a corner of a box by making serious discoveries and alternatives.
Mrs Ihediwa is not left in the discovery as she noted that Nigerians have gradually returned to the COVID-19 era, when during the lockdown a lot of discoveries were made.
Hear her: “My husband is a businessman who loves his white rice and stew. He told me he still wanted tomato stew and rice. I struggled to buy one paint of fresh tomato at N14,000 and it was not funny at all. My next move was to go back to an all tin-tomato puree stew which served us all. He does not like the trending cucumber and carrot stew.”
In the same vein, Mrs Essien does her daily trading at the popular Ikotun market.
She has not been scared with the high cost of tomatoes as she said: “Instead of giving myself high blood pressure, I use garden egg, enough onions and condiments as an alternative to tomato stew.  Since we also use cooked garden egg for boiled yam; it will also serve well with rice.”
Again, knowing that tomato is the new gold in the market now, some homes also enjoy their stew with enough cabbage blended together with beetroot, drained to serve as replacement for tomato.
Also, Mrs Oransanya, a teacher, said: “I cook more of jollof rice these days with tin-tomatoes puree since raw tomato is no longer pocket-friendly.
“I have actually reduced my cooking of stew, and do more of jollof rice with tomato puree.”
Mrs Eze-Okoli, who lives in Amuwo-Odofin, but hails from Anambra State asked: “What concerns an Anambra woman with fresh tomato?
“I am not missing raw tomato and pepper because we are enthusiastic Ofe akwu (Banga soup) eaters. In my home, we are used to our native Ofe-akwu for our meals even when tomato was not scarce.”
Though the effect of the scarcity has also pushed the other alternatives high, but it is not as high as the fresh tomatoes.
Indeed, the Deputy Director Dietetics, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akwa Ibom State, Blessing Nwazuluoke, agreed that these vegetables are eaten raw or used in vegetable salads.
When asked how healthy these raw consumable vegetables like cucumber, carrot, water-melon, beetroot and cabbage react when they come in contact with other cooking condiments like oil and seasonings all cooked together, Nwazuluoke said: “Look at this table, in 100g raw tomatoes, it contains water, 94.5g; energy     18kcal; energy 74kJ; protein, 0.88g; total lipid (fat) 0.2g; ash 0.5g; carbohydrate, by difference 3.89g; fiber, total, dietary 1.2g; total sugar, 2.63g; starch 0g; calcium, 10mg; iron, Fe 0.27mg; magnesium,11 mg; potassium, 237 mg; vitamin C, total ascorbic acid, 13.7 mg; vitamin A, RAE 4µg; retinol 0µg; carotene, beta 449 µg; carotene, alpha 101µg; cryptoxanthin, beta   0µg; vitamin A, IU 833IU; lycopene 2570 µg; lutein + zeaxanthin,123 µg.
“One would see that they have similar nutritional profile, but with carrot having more energy, Vitamin A, Carotene (beta and alpha), potassium.
“The only nutrient (phytonutrient) that these other vegetables lack that tomatoes has in abundance is lycopene. And for that nutrient, the other vegetables are not suitable replacement. But the good thing is that we can still get Lycopene from other foods like pink guavas, apricots, watermelons, and pink grapefruits.
“Another draw back to the use of these other vegetables for stew is the fact that the juices (water) strained out after grinding are consumed as juice differently. Some vital nutrients would go with that water thereby reducing their nutritional value. To prevent this loss, the water should be consumed as juice along with the meal while eating or used to boil the rice.
“It is healthy to use carrot or cucumber as a replacement for tomatoes (adding similar ingredients we add to tomatoes when making stew) so long as we put the above stated points into consideration.”