So called sorted fresh tomatoes and other ugly market practices.

There is an urgent need to enforce basic food safety initiatives in our market place. We cannot continue to be cheated by market agents and middle men. They are so powerful that it is difficult to influence their method of operation in Mile 12 market especially.

Fresh produce come in from various parts of the Nigeria in rafia baskets. This means by the time they get to the market half are rotten and broken because of the mode of transport. Sometimes you find that some farm workers slept on the produce all through the ride from the farm. There are no standard baskets or standard weights. The produce are claimed to be both sorted and unsorted, to me there is hardly a difference in the two categories.Whichever you decide to buy you will still have to sort out yourself before use.

If you buy the sorted tomatoes I guarantee you about 30% will be either broken or rotten. Imagine what you will find in the unsorted basket. This is very very frustrating for me as a retailer. It is difficult to plan, you are not sure of the quality you can get any day and also the weight is not fixed as baskets can be changed at will. You are not even sure of source of the produce as there is no form of traceability tag available. We shop blind daily. The worst thing is the awful smell you get in the market. Fresh produce are supposed to smell fresh but not our own.... very nauseating I tell you.

That is why at Easyshop we have decided to partner with the farmers directly. This way we are sure of the origin of the produce, the method of farming, the size of the basket and most importantly the quality to be supplied to our office. It also helps us to control our prices.

'Sorted' Tomatoes directly from the market

Middle contents of the 'Sorted' basket of tomatoes

Bottom of the basket of 'sorted' tomatoes

Some broken tomatoes in the 'sorted' basket of tomatoes

At Mile 12, price is determined by various forces even the mood of the men in charge. The association can decide to fix a price based on demand or political situation at the moment and this will destabilize our operations in the office. Sometimes the agents will decide not to sell the fresh produce on the truck because the old stock is still on ground even if the old stock is obviously rotten. Then you have a case of the traders stuffing the rotten lot at the base of the basket and then the fresh ones on top. All sort of ugly practice that cannot be explained.

If the market is accessible and car park is sufficient I doubt they will have a problem of selling fresh produce in record time. But the market agents themselves have blocked the car parks with stalls and frustrated the very customers they crave.Someone needs to tell them a market place does not need to be dirty or cramped to be vibrant. Must we accommodate all manners of traders? If you cannot adhere to the rules of the market place why should we drop our standards? Whose job is it to make sure the fresh produce brought in are fresh and not rotten farm produce that are forced into our hands?

Is this the job of LGA's or State govt or even Federal? We are throwing away a lot of money and food in the midst of starving people. We are also allowing ugly market practices that are harming our health and economy.

Government is spending a lot of money to help farmers and increase farm produce; there is more to farming than just growing crops and fertilizer. Without proper food safety practice enforced in the supply chain the impact will not be felt by the final consumer. What use is farming, if you cannot sell your produce.