Abuja housewives have to settle for carrot stew because the price of tomatoes is going up. Because tomatoes are getting more expensive, som...
Abuja housewives have to settle for carrot stew because the price of tomatoes is going up.
Because tomatoes are getting more expensive, some women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have stopped using them to make stew and other sauces. The people who lived there...
Because tomatoes are getting more expensive, some women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have stopped using them to make stew and other sauces.
The locals told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) about this in interviews. They said they had to make stew out of garden eggplants and carrots.
They said that garden eggs, which are called ganyen gauta in Hausa, igba in Yoruba, and anyara in Igbo, could go well with rice just like tomatoes.
Others said that instead of tomatoes stew, they were thinking about using pumpkin, pawpaw, or traditional soups like white soup and palm fruit soup, which is often called banga.
Mrs. Jumai Amodu, a mother of five, said that a week without rice and tomato stew made her and her family feel empty.
She said that rice and stew were always on their menu and that eating cooked rice and stew gave her a feeling she couldn't explain.
Mrs. Jumai Amodu, a mother of five, said that a week without rice and tomato stew made her and her family feel empty.
She said that rice and stew were always on their menu and that eating cooked rice and stew gave her a feeling she couldn't explain.
But the mother of five said that because tomatoes are hard to find and expensive, her family is trying out backyard egg stew.
Amodu said, "Because tomatoes are so expensive now, we decided to make stew with garden eggs instead. It tastes just as sweet as tomato stew."
"The colour is the only big difference between garden egg stew and tomato stew. We also sometimes eat pumpkin sauce with rice. It has its own taste, but it goes well with rice."
Mrs. Helen Omo, a businessman, said that tomatoes stew is an important dish in almost every home in Nigeria, but the lack of tomatoes has made some Nigerians think of other ways to make it.
"Yesterday, I went to the market to buy tomatoes for stew. A large bunch, which usually costs between N2000 and N2500, was being sold for as much as N6500.
She said, "I didn't try to negotiate the price because it was way out of my price range."
A trader named Mr. Chinedu told NAN that he liked to eat rice with pepper soup or white soup.
"The prices of all foods have gone up, but tomatoes are crazy expensive, possibly because it's not tomato season right now.
"Not only is it expensive, but it's also hard to find, so we decided to try out other recipes," he said.
Umar Adamu, who sells tomatoes in the Nyanya market, said that he hasn't been selling them for a few days because not many people want them.
He said that people weren't buying from him because his prices were too high.
The CEO of Abraks Farm Produce Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Rukkaya Umar, said that the high cost of fertilizer was the main reason why tomatoes were hard to find.
She said that many farmers don't grow tomatoes because they can't afford manure. She also said that fertilizer was important for the growth of tomatoes.
Umar also said that one reason for the lack of food was that people depended on farms based on the seasons. He added that tomatoes were not in season right now.
"Most farmers in Nigeria still only farm for a few months at a time, which makes it hard to get food when it's not their season," she said.
According to NAN, a big basket of tomatoes used to cost about N10,000, but now it costs about N35,000. Bigger baskets cost more.
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