Nigerian university offers advice on tomato disease
The head of Crop Rotation Unit of the institute, Professor Afiniki Bawa Zarafi, made this known during an interview with an allAfrica correspondent in Zaria.
She said the new disease affecting tomato farms across the country, especially the North, is caused by an insect known as Tuta absoluta, a tomato leaf miner that lives and eats the leaf tissue of a tomato plant.
"According to our investigation, the resistance came up largely because of the quality of the pesticide that our farmers use. Sometime what is written on the package is not actually what is inside. If the manufacturers write the percentage of the active ingredients, but going to laboratory you may find they are lower or even different from what they are claiming."
She added: "Therefore when a farmer uses such pesticide, he may end up either using the wrong chemical or the right chemical but with the wrong concentration. This results in non-effectiveness and usually leads to resistance. The danger again is that even when a farmer applies the right concentration and right chemical, he may not get the desired result. To our suspicion, that was what happened to these particular insects that are affecting tomato production."
According to her, tomato farmers are in a serious dilemma because of the outbreak, hence the IAR's decision to offer some advice.
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