Africa has become the new frontier for development as it is attracting a lot of interest and investments across the globe. In January 2022, the Italian Development Cooperation disclosed plans to contribute over €4.55 million to two United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) projects in Egypt and Iraq. The Egypt project has been developed after an in-depth analysis of the Egyptian tomato value chain. The project will enhance the linkages between supply and processing factories, improve the quality of tomato production and processing, strengthen the technical skills of workers and managers in the processing factories, and improve existing marketing strategies in order to tap into new markets.
The project aims at value-addition and enhanced technical capacities of the youth thereby increasing their employability and creating job opportunities.
Source: Tomatonews.com
Egypt with the production of about 7 million tonnes of fresh tomatoes per year, ranks as the world’s fifth-largest producer. However, only three to four percent of the tomato crop is processed, and the processing sector suffers from a lack of integration with the supply chain just as is the case with other African countries like Nigeria, the second-largest producer of tomatoes in the continent. The project is expected to help Egypt make better use of its processing factories while tapping into various markets and lowering the unemployment rate.
At EGDC and AFUTD we strongly believe that right partnerships will spur development in Africa.
Egypt and Nigeria among the Top Tomato producers
| Country | Total Land Area | Arable Land | Percent of Arable to Total land | Tomato production (‘million tonnes) |
| China | 9,424,702.90 | 1,195,052.33 | 12.68 | 62.9 |
| India | 2,973,190 | 1,564,195.26 | 52.61 | 19.0 |
| Turkey | 769,630 | 197,256.17 | 25.63 | 12.8 |
| United States | 9,147,420 | 1,577,015.21 | 17.24 | 10.9 |
| Egypt, Arab Rep. | 995,450 | 29,067.14 | 2.92 | 6.8 |
| Italy | 297,730 | 67,227.43 | 22.58 | 5.3 |
| Iran, Islamic Rep. | 1,628,760 | 146,914.15 | 9.02 | 5.2 |
| Spain | 499,603.48 | 118,855.67 | 23.79 | 5.0 |
| Mexico | 1,943,950 | 239,105.85 | 12.3 | 4.3 |
| Brazil | 8,358,140 | 557,487.94 | 6.67 | 3.9 |
| Nigeria | 910,770 | 339,990.44 | 37.33 | 3.8 |
Source: EGDC
Contributed by Oyekunle Adesiyan
Reference: FAO, tomatonews.com