Seychelles employ temporary ban on South African Tomatoes

Seychelles has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of tomatoes from South Africa after suspicions that a caterpillar known as the ‘tomato leaf miner’ has reached the country, said officials of the Bio Security Agency on Tuesday.

The Seychelles' Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Michael Benstrong said the ban is likely to result in a shortage of tomatoes on the island nation.

The chief executive of the Bio Security Agency, Marc Naiken, told journalists that the agency suspects a new species of caterpillar, found on a farm at Anse Royale, a district in the South of Mahe, to be the tomato leaf miner, or the ‘Tuta absoluta.’

Samples have been taken for further analysis at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Benin in western Africa.

The Bio Security Agency of Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, awaits results as to whether the species is the tomato leaf miner.

The Seychelles authorities suspect that the species entered the country through infested imported tomatoes. Statistics from the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries published in 2013, shows that South Africa exports around 30 tonnes of tomatoes to Seychelles.

source: seychellesnewsagency.com