Crop diseases threaten Nigeria’s food security

Nigeria is showing a lack of capacity to deal with recurring crop diseases and this is threatening the country’s food security.

The recurrence of Tuta Absoluta, popularly known as Tomato Ebola, is an indicator of the country’s inability to deal with recurring crop diseases ravaging many farmlands.

Nigeria has had the opportunity of quelling the recurrence of Tomato Ebola in the last three years but government has instead, allowed it to recur year after year.

The disease is now ravaging farmlands in Akko, Kwami and Yamaltu-Deba local government areas of Gombe State and is responsible for a 300 percent increase in the price of fresh tomatoes in markets across the country.

Tuta Absoluta, has a reputation for swiftly ravaging the tomato crop in a little above 48 hours – prompting farmers to nickname it Tomato Ebola. The insect pest can breed between 10-12 generations in a year with the female capable of laying between 250  to 300 eggs within its life time.

A BusinessDay survey of the Mile 12 Market in Lagos, shows that a big basket of tomatoes now sells for N28, 000 as against N7,000  a month ago, indicating a 300 percent price increase.

The price of a small basket of tomatoes was N2,500 a month ago but now goes for N10,000.

“We have started bringing in tomatoes from Cameroun to ensure we meet demand,” said Lawal Biliya Adam, secretary, tomato section of the perishable goods segment of Mile 12 Market.

Emmanuel Ijewere, vice president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group and CEO Fresh Farms Limited, told BusinessDay on the phone that “We inspected two farms in Zambuk area in Yamaltu-Deba local government area of Gombe state and 70 percent of the farm is already destroyed by the pest.

“The price of tomato normally goes up by this time of the year, but this year’s increase is higher because of the recent announcement of Tuta Absoluta ravaging some farmlands. Speculators have taken advantage to increase the price excessively,” Ijewere said.

Nigeria is the 13th largest producer of tomatoes in the world and the second after Egypt, in Africa, yet the country is still unable to meet local demand because about 50 percent of tomato produce is wasted due to lack storage facilities, poor handling and poor transportation network across the country.

Experts say that the Tomato Ebola is a warning of a possible armyworm attack, which could soon recur to ravage maize crops in Nigeria, as relevant authorities seem helpless on preventive measures.

Sanni Dangote, president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) and vice president, Dangote Industries, told BusinessDay that what is happening now is not supposed to be an issue because Gombe is one of the small producers of tomatoes in the country in terms of size.

“We must start paying full attention to the entire agricultural value chain, from production, pest and diseases management, processing, storage and logistics, till it reaches the final consumers. With this then, we can be sure of food security,” Dangote said.

Nigeria needs to start planting improved or disease-resistant seed varieties and sensitise farmers on global best practices and pest management, to avoid recurrence of Tuta Absoluta, said Kabiru Ibrahim, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN).

Currently, the country is also facing a serious crisis in the seed industry, as there are lots of adulterated seeds in the market due to an about N525.04 billion demand-supply gap.

The sector is further plagued by high cost of inputs, especially the poultry industry, where farmers can hardly access cheap funds.

The off-taker challenges are still not resolved in many segments of the agricultural sector, just as capacity remains a big challenge to farmers.

“Except we adopt a holistic approach to food sufficiency and security, it will be all talk and no action. The government is still not doing enough for the agriculture sector, despite the much talked about diversification,” said Abiodun Olorundenro, CEO, Green Vine Farms, in a response to questions.

If armyworms recure to ravage the maize crop this year, there will  be limited supply to  homes and industries,  forcing brewers such as Nigerian Breweries and Guinness, who use it as an input to resort to importation.

“Storage is a major problem for vegetables in general and the government has failed in this area. A few months ago, there was a glut of tomatoes in the north, but due to poor storage and transportation, we couldn’t preserve them,” said Abiodun Oyelekan, Lagos State president of the FADAMA project, and chief executive officer of Farm Fresh Agric Ventures.

The agriculture ministry and research institutes are looking helpless in dealing with recurring crop diseases facing the country.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU & JOSEPHINE OKOJIE