‘Nigeria needs 60m plastic crates to minimise tomato wastage’

Nigeria needs about 60 million plastic crates in order to minimize wastages associated with movement of tomatoes from the farm.Dr Jean-Marc Ricca said this at a media parley in Lagos, explaining that 48 per cent of tomatoes coming from the north are crushed before getting to the market.He said his firm was engaging itself in trying to solve the problem of plastic waste by converting the plastics into something that can be reuse around its value chain.

He stated, “About 60 million plastic crates are missing in Nigeria. This is in terms of the total number of crates that would be required to move all the tomatoes. They are not enough because nobody has been interested or involved in that particular manufacturing.

“Forty-eight per cent of tomatoes coming from the north are crushed before getting to the market. Again, this is not just about us; there are so many people trying to find solutions.On the operating environment, he said the biggest challenge facing Nigeria is power, stating that a lot needs to be done to create conducive environment for businesses to thrive.