Yuletide: Prices Of Tomatoes, Pepper Drop In Enugu

The Prices of tomatoes and pepper have dropped considerably in major markets in Enugu metropolis.

A market survey conducted by NAN on Saturday revealed that prices of both tomatoes and pepper had reduced when compared to what their prices were some months ago.

The price of a big basket of tomatoes sell between N12,000 and N14,500, depending on the specie of tomatoes as there are presently two species in the market.

The price of small baskets of tomatoes cost between N7,000 and N8,000.
A tomatoes seller at Akwata Market, Mrs Uju Ogbu, attributed the drop in price of tomatoes to harvesting season.

Ogbu says the UTC specie that comes from Jos are gradually coming into the market because this is its harvest period.

According to her, some months back, the UTC was sold between N17,000 and N18,500 while the other species from Benue was between N14,000 and N15,000.

Mrs Ijema Ewulu, another tomatoe trader at Garki market, said that the price of tomatoes would further crash as the season was gradually setting in.
Mrs Oluchi Eze, a customer, who came to buy tomatoes at Mayor Market, added that towards the end of every year, price of tomatoes tend to fall compared to the price in second quarter of the year.

Eze called on governments to build silos for traders who sell perishable items such as tomatoes, pepper and vegetables to preserve these perishable food items in order to make them available to customers every time.

Meanwhile, NAN observed that the price of red pepper had slightly dropped as a bag of medium size pepper was sold between N14,000 and N15,000.

“But now it is sold for N13,000 and N11,000 due to availability of Nsukka specie of both yellow and red pepper in Enugu’’.

Another specie of red pepper called ‘Tattashe’ is also available in the markets and a five litre paint container which is used for measurement is sold for N1,000 as against N1,200.

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NAN