Tomato scarcity looms in Kano State as tomato farms have been hit again by the deadly tuta absoluta pest.
The pest-infested tomato farms at Bagwai, Shanono, Kura, Garin Malam, Bebeji, Bunkure, Rano, Kibiya, part of Tudun Wada and Dawakin Kudu local government areas of the state, where the product is reportedly farmed in large quantities.
Kano State chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Abdullahi Maibreadi, in an interview with LEADERSHIP, lamented the recurring infestation of tuta absolute. He said for almost 12 years, it had become a concern to many farmers, and a development, he said, had made the farmers think of quitting.
Maibreadi said AFAN's findings from across the localities show that 4,621 hectares of tomato farms worth N1bn are currently affected by the disease, emphasizing that if nothing is done to salvage the situation in the next one to two weeks, farmers will incur a loss of about N10 billion to N20 billion in Kano.
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