By Temidayo Tiamiyu
The Federal Government has said that ‘Tomato Ebola’ is ravaging six Northern States in Nigeria. The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh confirmed this at a two-day West and Central Africa Hub and Regulatory Workshop in Abuja.
He said that the tomato disease, which is also known as ‘Tuta Absoluta’, has massively destroyed tomato farmlands in the six states. The six states include; Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau and Lagos.
The Minister attributed the cause of the spread of the disease to a favourable environment for the highly reproductive nature of the tomato pest and lack of management knowledge.
Ogbeh stated that the Federal Government had started consulting with states and experts in other to fashion out measures to tackle the pest so that it won’t affect other vegetables.
“The pest can also attack even pepper and Irish potato. So we are confronting something quite serious. But the good thing is that we are tackling it right now as experts will commence work immediately. We are bringing the commissioners and governors of states to jointly attack this pest, which, if not dealt with, will create serious problems for food security in our country.”
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Ogbeh also said the government will encourage companies producing tomato paste in the country so as to reduce the amount used in the importation of the product as well as support the farmers
“We have two processing plants for tomato paste in Nigeria, Erisco and Dangote, and their capacities are huge. We welcome their arrival because our annual import bill of tomato paste is about $400m and it is a good sign that we can now produce here and make money for our farmers,” Ogbeh stated
Crop Life International, a group of agro-professionals present at the workshop encouraged the use of hazard-based approach rather than a risk-based methodology. They also suggested some tomatoes that can grow in the Western parts of the country.
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