Tomatoes plague: Just when the nation’s tomato farmers were
beginning to reap the rewards of the government’s
stopping of the importation of substandard tomato
produce, which was costing Nigeria N80bn annually,
there comes a plague that is threatening to wipe out
tomato farms.
Its devastating effects have prompted Nigeria’s and
Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, to suspend
production at his recently built tomato processing
plant in northern Kano state because of a lack of
tomatoes.
The culprit is a moth with the biological name tuta
absoluta, aka the tomato leafminer, but now
generally referred to as the ‘Tomato Ebola’,
reflecting its destructive power in comparison to the
dreaded Ebola virus.
Tomato Ebola
Tuta absoluta is a grey-brown species of moth that
is about 7mm long, with the ability to wipe out a
farm within days. A female pest can produce up to
260 eggs in 21 days. This reproductive capability,
coupled with a lack of expertise concerning its
control, were the reasons for its spread and the
scale of the devastation.
The tomato is the main host plant, but tuta absoluta
also attacks other crop plants, including potato and
pepper plants. Eight to ten generations can occur in
a single year if the conditions are favourable.
Devastation
The larva attacks the leaves of the tomato plant by
feeding on it voraciously, producing large galleries
in leaves, and consuming green and ripe fruits,
consequently causing up to 100% loss in yield in
some farms.
All the available and usual pesticides have been
applied to no avail, as the larvae have developed
resistance to them, reviving themselves about three
hours after being sprayed with pesticides.
Eighty per cent of Nigeria’s tomato production has
been hit by the plague, which has become
widespread and now affects production in six
states: Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Plateau, Kaduna and
Lagos.
Hundreds of hectares of tomato farms have been
ravaged, resulting in a scarcity, thereby sky-
rocketing the prices in the market. The cost of
tomatoes has increased at least five-fold, or 500%,
with no sign of slowing down.
The current crisis is a huge blow for Nigeria’s
President Muhammadu Buhari who has been urging
the nation to return to agriculture to minimise the
economy’s dependency on petroleum, which is now
causing suffering due to the huge decrease in the
crude oil market price.
Global spread
The moth was first identified as a tomato pest in
1927, when it was prevalent in many South
American countries. It was first identified in Spain in
2006, before its detection in France, Italy, Greece,
Malta, Morocco, Libya and Algeria.
It continued its voracious appetite by infecting the
Middle Eastern states of Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran
and Saudi Arabia.
It further advanced to Africa, from Egypt to Sudan,
Ethiopia, and Senegal, before being reported here in
Nigeria.
A larvae feeding off a tomato
Control
Nigeria needs to reach out to other countries
previously affected in order to curb the destructive
spread of this resistant moth. Newer compounds
were used to control European outbreaks, so we
need to seek the assistance and expertise of our
European, South American and African partners.
Tomatoes are a staple in many of our dishes, hence
the public outcry over the scarcity and the soaring
cost. All hands must be on deck to curb the pest’s
spread.
However, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the minister of
science and technology, said the federal
government has developed a home-grown solution
to the tomato pest through the National Chemical
Institute for Chemical Technology, in Zaria, Kaduna
state, an agency under the ministry’s control.
He said: “Fortunately, an agency of the ministry has
developed a pesticide agent that is very effective
against the new tomato pest called tuta absoluta.”
A tomato infected with the tomato Ebola
He expressed further confidence in the pesticide,
adding: “The pest ravaging tomato farms is of great
concern to the nation, and this had led to an agency
of the ministry to develop a pesticide which is very
effective against the new tomato pest.”
Government reactions
The current crisis prompted the governor of Kaduna
state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to declare a “tomato
state of emergency.”
Kaduna state’s commissioner of agriculture,
Maigari Daniel Manzo, stated at a recent news
conference that 80 per cent of tomato farms have
been ravaged by the pest.
He further said that over 200 tomato farmers in
three out of 12 tomato-producing local government
areas of the state were affected by the plague,
costing farmers about N1 billion worth of tomatoes
in the last month.
Maigari said: “ You spray it; after about three hours
it comes back to life.”
Nigeria’s federal agriculture minister, Audu Ogbeh,
warned that the pest, which can also attack pepper
and potato plants, poses a threat to national food
security.
“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 the pest, which, if not dealt with, will
create serious problems for food security in our
country,” he said.
