FG Plans to Raise Import Duty on Tomato

By Dipo Olowookere

Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah, has disclosed that the Federal Government will have to raise import duty on tomato in order to boost local production.

Mr Enelamah dropped this hint on Wednesday while addressing reports in Abuja.

He said further that government will soon announce the new tariffs, but pointed out that import duty on some farming equipment would be waived to stimulate local production and investment in the agriculture sector.

“We are going to go up. We will be announcing what the new tariffs are but clearly there is a new set of tariffs,” the Minister said.

However, he did not give further details on this though he emphasised that “we are going to restrict imports of finished tomato products that can be produced locally.”

It was gathered that customs duties on some greenhouse equipment currently amounting to as much as 20 percent would be removed.