Every year, thousands of metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables produced by smallholder farmers in Nigeria do not reach consumers. Poor storage, long distances to markets and limited access to reliable buyers mean that a significant share of fresh produce spoils before it can be sold. For smallholder farming families, this results in income losses. For consumers, it reduces the supply of nutritious food, undermining national food security.
In Kano State, Nigeria’s largest tomato-producing state, thousands of farmers depend on tomato production for their livelihoods. Because of this, the establishment of aggregation centres is proving beneficial.
Aggregation centres create an efficient market hub by bringing together produce from hundreds of smallholder farmers. This reduces post-harvest losses and middlemen, lowers transportation costs, improves price transparency and creates reliable market linkages that benefit both farmers and off-takers.
Rabiu Abubakar, a tomato farmer with over 15 years of experience, has struggled to get his highly perishable produce to the market before it spoils. For him, the aggregation centre is a relief.
“I produce an annual average of 35 crates of tomatoes from my two-hectare farm, but I have to transport them to a market 25 kilometres away. Most times, the transport costs consume my profit, and sometimes I don’t get enough buyers, so my tomatoes get spoilt due to poor storage,” Rabiu explains.
He adds that middlemen often dictate prices, leaving him with little bargaining power and unpredictable income.
Today, instead of travelling 25 kilometres to the market, Rabiu transports his tomatoes less than two kilometres to his community aggregation centre. There, his produce is sorted, graded and sold directly to off-takers who purchase in bulk, ensuring that more of his harvest reaches consumers, instead of going to waste.
“The centre operates twice a week, with off-takers ready to buy our produce. We are now confident that whatever we harvest will be sold, and at a better price with lower transport costs. Before, I could barely sell 20 crates out of the 35 I harvested annually. Last season, I earned 525,000 naira (335 euros), an increase of about 40% compared to my previous earnings,” he says.
With his improved income, Rabiu has expanded his farming enterprise to include onion cultivation, diversifying his income and strengthening his resilience.
In 2024, the Acting Now project established six fruit and vegetable aggregation centres across participating communities in Kano and Kaduna states. The centres are designed to connect smallholder farmers to structured markets while improving the efficiency of local food systems by ensuring that more fresh produce reaches markets instead of being lost after harvest.
The centres also address key logistical, financial and quality challenges by consolidating produce from smallholder farmers into larger, standardised volumes that meet the needs of bulk buyers.
Ogochukwu Akunna, the Acting Now project coordinator in Nigeria, says the initiative demonstrates that investments in market infrastructure can simultaneously improve livelihoods and food security.
“The aggregation centre has reduced food waste while increasing sales and income for smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers, especially in communities that lack processing facilities and are located far from the market,” says Ogochukwu.
Funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Acting Now project has supported 25,746 farmers like Rabiu across Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau and Ogun states. Through improved market systems, stronger buyer linkages and practical agricultural support, the project is helping farming families reduce losses, increase incomes and contribute to a more resilient and food-secure Nigeria.