The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with Fadama III Programme has organised a capacity building workshop on strategies for management and containment of Tuta Absoluta in the country.
“The initiative was borne out of the need for government to continue the awareness and upgrade of the technical-know-how on the systematic and well-coordinated approach required in the management of Tuta Absoluta and its spread,” Shehu Ahmed, permanent secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a statement made available to BusinessDay.
Ahmed who was represented by Kano Michael, deputy director-horticulture in the ministry, said that capacity building is a key component for the country to achieve the goal of food security and import substitution policy of the agricultural roadmap- the ‘Green Revelation.’
He said the workshop was intended to impact knowledge and develop skills of state level technical staffs on various strategies and management practices for control and containment of the invasive pest of tomato with emphasis on use of environmentally friendly technology.
According to him, the tomato industry in Nigeria is characterised by a number of challenges ranging from poor quality and recycle seeds, pest and disease infestation, poor quality produce and high post harvest losses, lack of storage and preservation capacity, cottage infrastructure among others.
The permanent secretary disclosed that the government had established projects such as the workshop, which would be replicated in other states of the federation, FAO Technical Cooperation Project and World Vegetable Centre collaboration project with African Development Bank to address the challenges.
He noted that the rapid increase in national population and awareness of the health benefits of high quality fresh fruits and vegetables including tomato, had led to an increase in their demand. This in turn has made Nigeria a big market for tomato and other locally produced vegetables.
In furtherance of this, he tasked all stakeholders in the tomato supply chains to ensure the public consumes safe, wholesome and nutritious fresh produce that are vital and basic necessity of life.
While encouraging the field officers to render technical support to farmers in achieving self-sufficiency in tomato production, he pointed out that it has been projected that Nigeria would attain self- sufficiency when its output averages 6 million metric tons per annum.
Abiola Oke, entomologist, National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan (NIHORT), said tuta absoluta cannot be eradicated but can only be managed, saying that government should adopt an Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which has three national objectives, to contain the economic damage, prevent the development of resistance strains to insecticide, as well as prevent the increase in insecticide residue in the food chain.
