The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security in Nigeria, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said Nigeria has lost over N1.3 billion to the outbreak of Tuta absoluta in Kano, Katsina, and Kaduna, leading to a significant increase in the price of tomatoes.
“Tomato Ebola,” nicknamed by farmers, is a tomato-destroying pest.
This development was disclosed on Wednesday during the ongoing four-day capacity-building workshop for financial institutions organised by HortiNigeria in collaboration with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc in Abuja.
Senator Kyari further emphasised that the outcome of the virus has worsened and triggered food inflation and impacted household budgets, stating that previously, a 50kg basket cost N5,000, but due to the attack, it has increased to between N10,000 and N30,000.
Read Also: Uganda launches Ebola vaccine trial to combat rising cases
He highlighted the effect on tomatoes, stating that the damage can surface within 48 hours.
He stressed the need to implement strategic pest control measures, invest in resilient crop varieties, and support farmers with preventive and safety measures.
In 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that tomatoes led the food price index with a staggering 320 per cent year-on-year increase, followed by peppers and other produce.
“Tomatoes and pepper, essential ingredients in virtually every Nigerian kitchen, serve as baseline commodities for daily cooking.”
To improve Nigerian agriculture, the minister declared horticulture as the solution-driven initiative to revive the system, as it tends to improve rural areas, provide jobs, enhance nutrition, and support trade diversification.
Horticulture involves the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, flowers, and ornamentals.
Unveiling horticulture as a dynamic sector that promotes climate resilience, he said, “The sector also promotes climate resilience through protected cultivation and irrigation systems and improves urban food access through peri-urban farming and integrated logistics.”
While explaining the benefits of horticultural crops, which contain rich nutrients, Kyari noted, “Crops like tomatoes, pineapples, cucumbers, citrus, and plantains have enormous domestic demand and are increasingly becoming key commercial crops.”
“Scaling up the production and affordability of these crops is crucial to ending malnutrition in all its forms.”
He called for the improvement of the horticulture value chain in the country to enable profit and value using the recommended fit-for-purpose instruments.
