- Govt declares state of emergency on crop
Farmers in Kaduna State are counting their losses following the destruction of their farms by pests which have continued to eat up tomatoes in many northern states.
In Kaduna alone, an estimated N1billion worth of tomatoes are believed to have been destroyed by the pests known as Tuta Absoluta.
The newly established Dangote Tomato Processing Factory in Kadawa, Kano State, recently suspended production as most of the tomato farms in Kano, Jigawa, Plateau, Katsina and Kaduna states were affected by Tuta Absoluta.
Already, the Kaduna State government has declared a state of emergency on tomato farming as a result of the pests.
The State is noted for the production of tomatoes in commercial quantity, with 12 local government areas engaged in the farming.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Maigari Daniel Manzo, at a news conference in Kaduna on Monday, said 80 per cent of tomato farms have been destroyed by the pests.
He said the government is worried over the situation, hence the decision to declare a state of emergency in the sector.
According to him, over 200 tomato farmers in three out of the 12 tomato producing local government areas of the State, have been affected by the pests, adding that the farmers suffered loses worth about N1billion in the last one month.
Manzo disclosed that some officials of the State Ministry Agriculture have been sent to Kenya to discuss with experts and proffer solutions to the problem.
“I want to say that Governor Nasir el-Rufai has declared a state-of-emergency on tomatoes in the State. This is as a result of invasion of the crops by a pest named tomato blight botanically known as Tuta Aboluta,” he said.
“In the past one month 12 local government areas of the state who produce tomatoes have lost 80 per cent of their tomatoes harvest.
“In three local government areas about 200 famers have lost One billion naira worth of their tomatoes. So you can imagine the magnitude of the lose.
“It is so severe that even Dangote who has established a tomato processing plant in Kano, had to shut down production.”