New Tomato, Pepper To Hit Nigerian Markets as NIHORT Shares High-yield Varieties
- In 2024, the price of tomatoes and peppers increased astronomically due to poor yield and other factors
- But since 2025, prices have been on a decline amid a major tomato glut in the harvest seasons
- A research institute in Nigeria has now released high-yield tomato and pepper seeds, promising a bumper harvest for farmers
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Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.
The National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) has released four new high-performing tomato and pepper varieties, which are set to enter the Nigerian markets.
According to NIHORT, these new varieties are the product of intensive research done by the institute to address the low-yield challenges faced by tomato and pepper farmers and create a variety that is highly resistant to disease and pests.
Announcing the development, the executive director of NIHORT, Prof Mohammed Atanda, described it as a major milestone towards enhancing food security and boosting farmers' income through increased crop yield.
Source: Getty Images
He added that the new seeds would also reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported vegetable seeds.
NIHORT unveils new varieties of tomato, pepper
The new varieties unveiled include two tomato cultivars named HORTITOM4 and HORTITOM5, and two yellow aromatic pepper cultivars – HORTIPEP1 and HORTIPEP2.
All four varieties have been approved by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock/Fisheries on April 15, 2025.
The NIHORT boss described it as a breakthrough for Nigerian farmers, given the indispensable nature of tomato and peppers to Nigerian households, The Nation reports.
He noted that this would become the solution to Nigeria’s national average tomato yield of 3.4 tonnes per hectare, which has lagged behind other countries in the world due to the challenges Nigerian farmers face.
Recall that the federal government promised to find a solution to the poor tomato yield, which led to a price increase last year.
NIHORT new varieties to increase tomato, pepper yield
Professor Atanda explained that the HORTITOM4 and HORTITOM5 are pure line varieties with a determinate growth habit and are suitable for all kinds of cultivation, including the open field rain-fed cultivation, screenhouse farming, and irrigated systems.
They are adapted to different farming environments from the rainforest, derived guinea, and Sudan Savanna ecologies; possess a high tolerance to bacterial wilt, and have high-yield fruit with essential nutrients like vitamin C, lycopene, and carotenoids.
Importantly, they have a maturity period of 80 to 90 days, yielding up to 21.7 to 27.2 tonnes per hectare, a massive jump from the current 3.9 to 10 tonnes per hectare across Nigeria.
The HORTIPEP1 and HORTIPEP2, according to Prof Atanda, are open-pollinated varieties with an erect plant habit and attractive yellow mature fruits that are also suited for all of Nigeria’s farming environments.
Atanda noted;
“Importantly, these new pepper varieties exhibit resistance to Cucumber mosaic virus and bacterial wilt, and they are also tolerant to the destructive pepper fruit fly. They are also very pungent and possess excellent nutritional qualities, being rich in capsaicin, Vitamin C, and Beta carotene.”
He added that the maturity period for both varieties ranges from 100 to 125 days, with yields ranging from 18.6 to 20.11 tonnes per hectare.
The increased yield could also significantly curb the seasonal increase in tomato and pepper prices.
He expressed optimism that these new releases will accelerate the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to regulate the vegetable seed markets and reduce the import of vegetable seeds, thus saving much-needed foreign exchange.
Source: Getty Images
The abundance of the product could also increase processing activities in Nigeria, creating more employment opportunities across the value chain.
Atanda stated that Nigeria’s goal of achieving food security is now one notch closer with the new varieties, adding that NIHORT would work with the seed companies as directed by the Ministry of Agriculture to facilitate the multiplication of the seeds and make the improved seeds available to Nigerian farmers.
Nigerians stock up on tomatoes as prices crash
In related news, Legit.ng reported a major crash in the price of tomatoes in January 2025.
After months of purchasing tomatoes at high prices, many Nigerians stocked up when the price fell by 90%.
Farmers noted that this was due to the harvest season, adding that it would not last all year.
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Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
