Tomato Scarcity Looms, As Farmers Lose N1.3B, 300 Hectares To Tomato Ebola

Tuta Absoluta, also known as Tomato Ebola, is currently ravaging tomato farms in parts of the country, costing as much as N1.3 billion in an economic dimensions, with scarcity looming.

The situation has led to a collaborative efforts by Federal Government; Nigeria Agribusiness Group, NABG; Hort Nigeria; Nigerian Horticultural Research Institute, NIHORT; Sygenta; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, and others to tackle the disease.

They raised the alarm over Tomato Ebola at a briefing by Horti Nigeria, supported by the Netherlands, adding that the ravaging insects were ruining huge investments of farmers in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Gombe States.

The President, NABG, Emmanuel Ijewere, said stakeholders have resolved, therefore declared total ‘War’ on the invading insects.

Ijewere pointed out that the worrisome development cannot be left alone for the farmers as NABG was organizing a stakeholders’ meeting to address the challenge, because it is the farmers who are the major sufferers and not even the processors, in the sense that they have invested heavily on their farms for tomato production.

He said: “Tuta Absoluta is an insect that has ravaged tomato farms and from what we have discovered, the insect is very devastating to the tomato and is so smart.

“The insects have decided to build their homes under the leaves and when the insecticide is sprayed it doesn’t affect them.

“The affected states are mainly Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Gombe, but the insects don’t need visa to go to any other states as far as the conditions are right.

“Climate change has enhanced the movement of pests around the field; the warm environment helps them to spread wide, increased humidity allow these pests to thrive, hence the new outbreak of Tuta Absoluta.

“We are glad to have the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development here and we are working together to solve this problem.

“The bottom line is that the biggest sufferers are farmers who are already in trouble, and they have invested in buying inputs, and it is time to harvest and there is nothing to harvest.

“It is ‘war’ we are going to declare against these insects and all of us here will be providing the ‘weapons’ to achieve it.”