Th Federal Government of Nigeria has declared a state of emergency on tomato subsector following the destruction of 80 percent if the nation’s tomato farms by the Tuta absoluta pest.
The minister of Industry, trade and investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar declared the state of emergency yesterday while addressing newsmen after a meeting with major stakeholders across the tomatoes value chain.
The meeting included packagers, relevant government ministries and regulatory agencies, farmers and processors. The minster noted that a technical committee will be inaugurated next week to draft the proposed policy.
She said: “This meeting was convened in response to the current scarcity of tomatoes in the country occasioned by the outbreak of the tomato moth, tuta absoluta.
“Our investors in the sector have also been upset about the CBN’s ban on foreign exchange allocation for the importation of tomato concentrate, a vital raw material for them.
“So, we all came together to chart a way forward.The major decision we have taken is to develop a tomato policy under our National Industrial Revolution Programme (NIRP).
“A technical committee that would work on the policy draft should take-off next week so that we would have an approved plan in place before the next tomatoes season”.
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