Experts in the vegetables and fruits subsector have bemoaned the huge loss accruing to the Nigerian economy due to a lack of knowledge and willpower to harness the potential of vegetables and fruits for commercial gains.

The Chairperson, Agriculture and Allied Group of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mrs Edobong Akpabio, said that vegetables and fruits are capable of sustaining Nigeria’s economy, adding that the country was losing huge revenue because of lack of food agronomic practices.

The agropreneur, who spoke in Ado Ekiti alongside other experts during the ‘3rd Speak Agriculture for the Future Economy’, with the theme, “Value addition in the vegetable value chain: The sub-Sahara Africa prospect”, said, “In Nigeria, we are blessed with an abundance of vegetables/fruits, but because we have never harnessed our fruit strength into commercial gains, we lost the knowledge of fruit farming.”

Akpabio said fruits could be planted for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes, and for commercial fruit farming, there are principles for productivity and profitability of that activity.

“There are measures to avoid pests and measures to ensure uniformity in terms of taste, colour, yield. But regrettably, our people do not consider these. That is why you see hotels import fruits.

“We need to now consciously and intentionally cultivate our fruits such that they are satisfactory to our market. Right now, we just take our fruits to the major markets and expect that people will buy them. We need to now get back and ensure that we work on our capacity to produce fruits such that they also add to our productivity and profitability as a country,” she said.

SAFE Summit Convener and the founder of Raise a Farmer Initiative, Mayowa Ekundayo, explained Africa lost over 65 per cent of her vegetables and fruits to post-harvest losses, noting that value addition to the end produce remained a viable way out of the losses and as well means to enhance farmers’ economies.