FG sends SOS to banks as tomato farmers lose N1.3 billion to pest outbreak

• In May 2024, a large handbasket of tomatoes sold for arsenic precocious arsenic N150,000, a immense deviation from the erstwhile terms of N10,000
• The national authorities has present identified the reasons down the spike successful prices, which fuelled the already worrisome inflation
• The authorities has besides taken steps to forestall a repetition by introducing caller herb taxon for the farmers

Legit.ng writer Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has implicit a decennary of acquisition successful business reporting crossed integer and mainstream media.

Pest infestations stay a recurring contented for Nigerian farmers, causing important losses contempt their clip and resources invested successful the planting season.

The federal government has confirmed that Nigeria mislaid implicit N1.3 cardinal owed to the outbreak of Tuta absoluta, besides known arsenic Tomato Ebola oregon the herb leafage miner, successful 3 states.

Federal Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari, disclosed that the pest outbreak successful Kano, Katsina, and Kaduna resulted successful immense losses, yet causing a spike successful herb prices.

Once the pest invades a farm, it tin destruct the crops nether 48 hours. Photo credit: Gideon Mendel
Source: Getty Images

Tomato prices surge past 300%

A caller survey from Legit.ng showed that a container of tomatoes had risen to N45,000 alternatively of N21,000.

This marks a 100% terms increase from February to March 2025.

The cultivation curate disclosed successful his code that the terms of a 50kg handbasket of tomatoes surged from the scope of N5000 to N10,000, yet reaching N30,000.

He noted that this concern contributed to the nutrient ostentation successful the country, and the cost-of-living situation arising from strained household budgets.

Kyari was speaking astatine the ongoing four-day capableness gathering store for fiscal institutions connected Wednesday successful Abuja, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Tomato Ebola spreads, costing farmers N1.3 cardinal losses

Explaining however herb Ebola spreads, Kyari said that the invasive pest could dispersed and destruct herb crops wrong 48 hours, causing the farmers catastrophic losses.

Kyari lamented that this incidental exposed the fragility of Nigeria’s horticultural strategy and highlighted the urgent request for precocious pest absorption strategies.

The agriculture curate pointed retired that investments are needed to enactment the farmers, arsenic good arsenic the antithetic players on the nutrient proviso chain, portion besides ensuring nutrient security.

He added that the request for horticultural crops similar cucumbers, tomatoes, citrus, pineapples, and plantains is high, earning them an awesome presumption among commercialized crops and enabling the farmers to gain incomes extracurricular the accepted atom cycles.

He added that investing successful horticulture is captious to ending malnutrition and preventing disease, arsenic the crops are known to beryllium affluent sources of vitamins A, C, iron, zinc, and folate nutrients captious for kid improvement and maternal health.

FG urges banks, fiscal institutions to enactment farmers

The national authorities has sent a connection to banks and different fiscal institutions, urging them to make tailored fiscal products for farmers, successful enactment with their needs astatine circumstantial stages.

A handbasket of tomatoes sold for arsenic precocious arsenic N150,000 successful May 2024. Photo credit: Tolu Owoeye
Source: Original

Kyari encouraged them to survey and recognize the horticulture worth concatenation from effect to shelf, and make fit-for-purpose fiscal products, including seasonal recognition lines, instrumentality leasing, invoice discounting, and commercialized financing to enactment the farmers.

FG unveils high-yield tomato, capsicum seedlings

Legit.ng earlier reported that the national authorities had unveiled 2 herb cultivars named HORTITOM4 and HORTITOM5, and 2 yellowish aromatic capsicum cultivars – HORTIPEP1 and HORTIPEP2.

All 4 high-yield varieties are the merchandise of probe by the National Horticultural Institute (NIHORT), and person been approved by the National Committee connected Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock/Fisheries connected April 15, 2025.

NIHORT explained that the seedlings are adapted to each kinds of farming environments, person a shorter maturity period, and can summation harvest output by up to 200%.

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Source: Legit.ng