Peeping at Research and Development Centres: IAR, NAERLS and
NIHORT’s Successful Fight Against Tuta Absoluta on Tomato Production in Nigeria
Nigeria
is ranked as the 14th largest producer of tomatoes in the world. It is also the
largest producer of tomatoes in sub-Saharan Africa. Ironically, Nigeria is the
eighth largest importer of tomato paste in the world after Iraq and Japan. This
is because Nigeria could not produce enough to meet the local demand. For
instance in 2009, the Federal Government had to spend a wolfing sum of 16
billion Naira to import tomato paste to support the local demand of the country.
Tomato is an important crop in Nigeria responsible for the economic growth of
many communities. It is consumed daily by millions of households in Nigeria. Currently,
the production is estimated to be about 2 million tons of fresh tomato annually
while the national demand by the consumers for fresh tomatoes in Nigeria is estimated
to be between 2 and 3 million tons every year. The tomato paste importation is
estimated to be as much as 300,000 tons annually from China alone, amounting to
millions of USD from the country’s foreign exchange. The reason for the massive
importation of tomato paste into the country is directly linked to colossal
loss of production as over 50% is lost due to post production challenges. The
challenges ranged from poor storage system, poor transportation to lack of
processing enterprises. This has made the tomato marketing as the most elastic
and volatile market compared to any other agricultural produce in Nigeria. A
measure of tomato costing at N300 for instance, can be sold at N3,000 in the
same market within one to two months interval. Despite this large production, the
tomato production in Nigeria is still below its potential as reported by many research
works. The production is beset with many problems, such as diseases, nematodes,
insect pests, high flower drop, all these resulting in low yield and poor
quality fruits. Every year Nigeria loses about 750,000 tons of tomatoes due to post
production and poor food supply chain of the commodity. Certainly, this costs
millions of Naira that could make different to the producers and other chain
actors along the tomato value chain. It also leads to the inadequacy of
tomatoes in the country thereby causing the price volatility. Perhaps, these problems
were the driving factor for the international business mogul, Alhaji Aliko
Dangote to invest millions US Dollar in the tomato industry.
Few years
ago, Aliko Dangote decided to take part in the production and processing of
tomato in Nigeria. Dangote, a household name, a multi billionaire has been the
richest man not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa. He opened a tomato
processing facility in Gafan village in Kano State. The venture was reported to
worth about $20 million investment. According to the plan, the tomato
processing plant in Kano should gradually replace the tomato paste importation
and meet the local demand through production increase, reduction in tomato
wastages and enhancement of income of the tomato producers. The new processing
tomato plant was built by a Swiss Company. The plant has the capacity to
process and produce about 400,000 tons of tomato every year. The lofty
objectives of Dangote were sure to succeed as there are huge tomato markets in
Nigeria and the neighbouring countries. In addition, the investment is seen as
multi solutions capable of overcoming the problems of tomato production and
supply chain. It was at the point of productioncommencement
of Dangote’s tomato plant that a tomato ravaging pest named “Tuta Absoluta”
visited Nigerian tomato farms. It was like a thunder falling on a tree; sudden
and devastating with colossal destruction.
Tuta
absoluta (Lepidoptera; Gelechidae), popularly called “Tomato Ebola”, is a leaf
miner, a devastating pest that could ravage the whole tomato production and
reduce it to near zero in a very short time (within 48 hours). .It is also very
difficult to control as it has a high mutation capacity with the ability to
develop a resistance to commonly used insecticides. Tuta is a noctuid moth;
active in the night and before the day dawns. It mates lay eggs during this
active period and can lay as many as 260 eggs individually on the underside of
the leaves during its life cycle of 7 to 9 days. Tomato is the main host plant,
but Tuta Absoluta also attacks other crop plants including potato, eggplant,
pepper, cucumber and other vegetables. It is found also on many weeds. Tuta Absoluta
originates from South America, Peru and was first detected in Spain in 2006 It was later found in France, Italy, Greece and
Malta. This pest was reported in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya in 2009.
It arrived Turkey In 2010. The advance of Tuta Absoluta continued with
exponential proportion to the east to reach Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and
Iran. Further advances southward reached Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the rest
of the Gulf States. In Africa, Tuta Absoluta moved from Egypt to Sudan, South
Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. Its presence was also reported in some West African
countries like Senegal. Ghana and Niger. It was first reported in Nigeria
possibly in 2014 but became a serious problem in 2015. During the 2015/2016 dry
season, Tuta Absoluta was virtually reported from all the states of the North
where tomatoes were being produced. The North West and Eastern states of Kaduna,
Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Katsina and Sokoto, were all visited by the destructive
moth.
Tuta
Absoluta causes losses of up to 100 % of the production through mining of
leaves and burrowing into tomato fruits.
Nigerians were severely affected by the scarcity of tomatoes during the
ravage of this nocturnal moth. Tomato, a key ingredient in most of the delicacies
prepared in many Nigerian households became a scared commodity, where it was available,
became unaffordable to many Nigerians. The price of the fruit increased by more
than 400 percent; Nigerians were paying around 200 Naira for the same quantity
of tomatoes that was hitherto 50 Naira few months ago. The economic loss caused
by Tuta Absoluta was beyond imagination as there was no reported study on the monetary loss to the
nation. However, report from Today,
an online newspaper indicated that Tomato growers in Kano State lost over N2
billion to Tuta Absoluta, the pest which ravaged their tomato farms in 2016. The
paper quoted the Kano state Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna, made the revelation when the governments of Kano, Jigawa
and Kaduna states were signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Rockefeller
Foundation on the implementation of the YieldWise project. The YieldWise
project is a three-year programme that is aimed at reducing post-harvest losses
in the tomato value chain in the country. He said that the state government was
able to estimate the loss after setting up a committee under Kano State
Agricultural and Rural Development Authority to evaluate the damage caused by
Tuta Absoluta to tomato farms across the state. “We are happy to say that this
season, a lot has been done and we have not heard any reports of an outbreak of
the disease,’’ he was quoted by the newspaper. Kano state, with its vast irrigated land and
the biggest public owned irrigation project; Kano River Irrigation project
(KRIP) is refuted to lead other states in tomato production. If N2 billion
Naira worth of tomatoes were lost then the nation must have lost N5 to N6
billion Naira as a result of Tuta Absoluta in 2016. This is because there are 9 major tomato
producing states in Nigeria. They are Kano. Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa,
Gombe, Bauchi, Sokoto and Taraba states, respectively. How was the fight
against Tuta Absoluta won in 2016? What were the joint roles of Institute for
Agricultural Research (IAR), National Agricultural Research and Liaison
Services (NAERLS)? What was the role of National Horticultural Research
Institute (NIHORT) in the fight against Tuta? To be continued next week
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