Tomato Disease: HortiNigeria moves to control Tuta absoluta in Kano

HortiNigeria, a horticultural Dutch-funded program implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Ogun, and Oyo states, has launched a campaign to control Tuta absoluta(tomato disease) in Bunkure Local Government Area of Kano to enhance food security.

The Communication Coordinator of HortiNigeria, Feyikemi Adurogbangba, stated this during a media tour at the demonstration site in Gidan Kawri, Bunkure Local Government Kano, on Wednesday.

She said the move was to educate and empower value chain actors, especially smallholder farmers on effective pest management strategies.

She said ” the campaign aims at reaching 5,000 farmers in Kano and it surroundings and facilitates connections between farmers and dealers of specialized agro solutions to combat the pest(tuta absoluta)”.

Mr Abdullahi Umar, International Fertilization Development Centre(IFDC), Business to Business Linkage Sector Coordinator, said the campaign is aimed at demonstrating to farmers best practice to control the pest using Intergrated Pest Management (IPM).

“Tuta absoluta is very distructive,it has ability to change it self like worm or seed,it affects tomatoes”

“The smallholders farmers were thought on cultural, biological and physical or mechanical method of IPM so as to manage tuta absoluta economically, health wise and environmentally”

While calling for increased awareness on tomato production, Umar urged farmers to use loamy soil, ensure space and the use of mulching materials such as rice hubs to manage tuta absouluta to achieve high yield.

He urged the media, farmers and other stakeholders to join the fight against tuta absoluta.

Also, Mr Sebastian Agada, the East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer(EWS-KT), Technical Specialist, stressed the need to show farmers best practices to fight against the disease to continue to grow tomatoes all year round.

“Some farmers don’t take IPM measures to control the pest on their field and once a farm gets affected by tuta absoluta it leads to zero yield.

“Chemicals alone would no longer work to control the pest, that is why we brought Intergrated Pest Management (IPM) for food safety” Agada said

Speaking on behalf of the farmers, Malam Ibrahim Yunus, commended HortiNigeria and promised to use the knowledge gained in accessing the right inputs as well as observe best farming practice.

HortiNigeria is a four year initiative from 2021 to 2025, funded by Embassy of the Kingdom of Nertherlands in Nigeria. Implemented by IFDC, EWS-KT, Kit Royal Tropical Instityand Wageningen University of Research to enhance food security.