Tuta Absoluta disease ravages over 300 tomato farms worth N1.3 billion in Kano

Over 300 hectares of tomato farmlands have been destroyed by a deadly disease outbreak, known as Tuta absoluta in Kano State.

A Director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Dr. Deola Lordbanjou disclosed this in a press statement issued to newsmen.

He said the Federal Government is looking for funding to tackle the current outbreak of the deadly tomato disease, known as Tuta absolute.

He said in Kano State the disease had already ravaged over 300 farmland worth N1.3 billion.

Lordbanjou explained that other states affected include Katsina, Kaduna and Gombe with the possibility of further spread to other states.

Lordbanjou said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture is currently in contact with the Federal Ministry of Finance to leverage the Tomato Levy Fund to respond to the crisis.

The FMARD director also berated tomato processors in the country for reneging in the backward integration initiative of the federal government.

According to him, the local processors were expected to uptake 50 percent of locally grown tomatoes as their raw input.

He noted that most of the local processors still imported 100 percent of raw tomatoes into the country.