Tuesday 24 May 2016

FOOD:------Governor El-Rufai declares state of emergency on tomatoes

State of emergency on
tomatoes


– Governor Nasir El-Rufai has
reacted to the tomatoes problem
besieging Nigeria
– The Kaduna state governor has
declared a state-of-emergency on
tomatoes
– El-Rufai say a critical look will
be taken to arrest the situation
– He has also about 7million
livestock will be vaccinated
El-Rufai declared the state-of-emergency on
tomatoes farming in the state, on Monday, May
23.
Governor El-Rufai has declared state of
emergency on tomatoes
The governor said that 80 per cent of tomatoes
farms have been ravaged by an exotic pest, called
tomato blight (Tuta Absoluta).
He said about 200 farmers in only three local
government areas in the state lost one billion Niara
in the last one month.
Speaking at a Press Conference through his
Commissioner for Agriculture in Kaduna, he said
already, some officials of the ministry had been sent
to Kenya to liaise with experts and return with the
best way of arresting the situation.
He said: “I want to say that Governor
Nasir El-Rufai has declared a state-
of-emergency on tomatoes in the
state. This is as a result of invasion
of the crops by a pest named tomato
blight, botanically known as Tuta
Aboluta.
“In the past one month, 12 local
government areas of the state that
produce tomatoes have lost 80 per
cent of its tomatoes harvest. In three
local government areas, about 200
farmers have lost one billion naira
worth of their tomatoes. So you can
imagine the magnitude of the lose.
“It is so severe that even Dangote
who has established a tomato
processing plant in Kano, had to shut
down production.



“The problem with the disease which
is caused by a moth, is that no
amount of spraying will kill the adult.
You spray it, after about three hours,
it revives back to life. So, we have
sent some of our officials to travel to
Kenya and meet our partners. Kenya
has a good advantage on this issue
over us.
“We understand that they use a plant
extract to take care of this problem.
But we do not have that knowledge
yet. We expect them to return very
soon with a short and medium term
solution,” he explained.
Daily Post reports that the governor also said that
the state would vaccinate 7 million livestock in the
state to secure both man and animal from infections.
“About 63 per cent of all diseases
that infect man are transmitted by
animals. So vaccinating cats, dogs,
horses and even poultry, is to protect
man,” he added.
“Not long ago, a Professor of the
Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria
was bitten by a dog and he died of
rabies infection. We have received
several cases with dog bites,
because in the past 20 years, there
has been no vaccination in the state,”
Governor El-Rufai noted.

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