Source: THISDAY LIVE
The Minister of Science and Technology,
Mr. Ogbonnaya Onu, on Friday said the federal government has developed a
home-grown solution to the ravaging tomato pest, tuta absoluta,
otherwise known as tomato ‘Ebola’
The disease, the minister averred, has
ravaged hundreds of hectares of tomato farms resulting in dire scarcity
of the farm produce and thereby skyrocketing the prices of tomatoes in
the market.
He said the discovery was made through
the National Chemical Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria in Kaduna
state, an agency under the ministry.
Onu made the disclosure while playing
host to the Director General of the institute, Prof. Bugaje, who came to
brief him about the development at the ministry’s headquarters in
Abuja.
The minister said: “Very recently the
nation woke up to hear that a pest ravaged our tomatoes farms in many
parts of the country and the nation sustained a lot of losses. As a
result, tomato factories were unable to get enough supply of tomatoes
and had to shut down.
“Fortunately, an agency of the ministry
has developed a pesticide agent that is very effective against this new
tomato pest called tuta absoluta.”
While expressing confidence that the
pesticide will eradicate the tomato disease, he added: “The pest
ravaging tomato farms is of great concern to the nation, and this had
let to an agency of the ministry to develop a pesticide agent which is
very effective against the new tomato pest.”
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