Growers in West Africa dealing with Tuta Absoluta

It is all about the tomatoes for many farmers in West Africa. Tomatoes are a major cash crop, one of the most lucrative. But invasive pests and diseases have the potential to cripple the industry, especially in a region that began exporting tomatoes to the United States last Summer.

Since 1993, researchers with the USAID-funded and Virginia Tech-managed Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL, formerly the IPM CRSP) have been working with growers, extension agents, and specialists in the region to identify tomato pests and diseases and create new ways to manage them.

Now, there is a new target on the horizon for the IPM IL: Tuta absoluta. It might sound like a Mozart aria, but Tuta is a devastating, invasive tomato leafminer native to South America. It was first identified outside of South America in Spain in 2006, quickly spreading to the Netherlands, Iran, and North Africa. The insect “mines” the plant’s leaves, resulting in early leaf drying. Not content with that level of damage, Tuta also bores into stalks and fruit.

“The insect affects the ability of thousands, and possibly millions, of small farmers to grow healthy tomato crops,” says Rangaswamy Muniappan, the IPM IL’s director. Tuta causes damage primarily to tomato but could also affect other crops, making it a risk to food security and agricultural production in countries where it is found. Entire tomato crops are at risk if no control measures are taken.

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