Over the past few weeks, there had been scarcity of tomatoes leading to high cost or non availability due to the tomato leaf minor moth also known as Tuta Absoluta. These moths has destroyed around
80 percent of the tomato farm in the Northern state of Kaduna leading to the government to declare state of emergency.
Government, on its desperate search for its solution has even blamed it on the bokoharam insurgency as addressed by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed. The tomato shortage, which happens to be a popular ingredient in our dishes has forced many to close their farms, including business mogul, Alinko Dangote - Africa's richest man, whose Dangote Tomato processing factory suspended operations in May due to the shortage.
Now, the National Research institute for chemical Technology says it has come up with a pesticide that can be used to tackle the moth. The institute public relation's officer, Alhaji Bala Aliyu told news agency that the vaccine had proven to be very effective during testing and that the institute was working with regulatory agencies to getting the pesticide certified and distributed to farmers.
Tomatoes woes seem to be coming to an end!
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