Tomato pest ravaging Nigerian tomato crops
Tuta absoluta, a destructive tomato pest, ravaged many tomato farms across Nigeria in 2016 causing an astronomical increase in the market price of tomatoes.
Abba Dreba, the Pest Control Officer of the Gombe ADP, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Gombe on Wednesday that the affected local governments were Akko, Kwami and Yamltu-Deba.
“The tomato pest started ravaging tomato farms last year but the ADP was not aware of this until this year; this is because tomato farmers in the affected local government areas were ignorant of the pest.
“However, when we received the report, we went round the entire local governments of Gombe and discovered that only Akko, Kwami and Yamltu-Deba local government areas were affected.
“All the tomato farms in the three areas were devastated. This is a very serious problem because the pest is resistant to all the available chemicals and insecticides on the market,’’ he said.
Mr. Dreba called on the state government to initiate proactive measures to ensure that tomatoes planted in this rainy season would not be affected by the pest.
source: premiumtimesng.com
