Agric Agency Tackles Tomato Disease

Following the outbreak of
Tuta absoluta-the scourge currently consuming Nigeria’s tomato crop, the mouth piece of Nigeria’s agriculture has convened a stakeholders Town Hall Meeting to address the issue in order to find a lasting solution to it.
The meeting which took place at the conference hall of Chimande Agricultural Seeds Nigeria Limited, Kano yesterday was attended by major players in the Nigerian tomato value chain as well as journalists from major media houses in the country.
Stakeholders at the meeting were unanimous in expressing concern that the tomato plague had come to the country unnoticed and had subsequently caught both the farmers and the government unawares.
Speaking at the meeting, the convener and editor-in-chief of Agro Nigeria Magazine, Barrister Richard-Mark  Mbaram noted that Nigerian tomato was under siege and that steps need to be taken to prevent reenactment of what happened in Sudan were it took that country about three years to recover from the crop disease.
According to him, an aggressive and well coordinated attack needs to be launched on the scourge before it wipes out Nigeria’s tomato crop.
“Agro-Nigeria, knowing what this portends for the health and livelihoods of Nigerians, has committed a large part of its resources to this issue and will continue to engage till this scourge is arrested”, Mbaram stated.
In his intervention, the Chief Executive Officer of Chimande Seed Nigeria Limited, Alhaji  Yusuf Ado Kibiya noted that the level of destruction caused by the plague was unquantifiable.
“The largest percentage of tomato is produced here in Kano and Jigawa.
“We produce about 75 per cent of tomato consumed in Nigeria and as we speak, farmers are counting their losses due to this scourge”, he said.