Barely a year after announcing the outbreak of Tuta absoluta, commonly known as the tomato leaf miner or ‘Tomato Ebola,’ the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, revealed on Wednesday that the disease destroyed over N1.3bn worth of tomatoes.
The economic loss recorded in Kano, Katsina and Kaduna States was revealed at the ongoing four-day capacity-building workshop organised by HortiNigeria in collaboration with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc.
Speaking at the financial summit in Abuja, Kyari said the tomato ebola had underscored the fragility of the country’s horticultural systems, adding that the invasive pest could decimate tomato crops within 48 hours, leading to catastrophic yield losses.
He said, “With increasing urbanisation and growing awareness of healthy diets, consumer demand for fresh and diverse produce is rising rapidly.
“Tomatoes and peppers, essential ingredients in virtually every Nigerian kitchen, serve as baseline commodities for daily cooking.
“When the prices of these staples spike, they set off a chain reaction that affects the cost of meals across homes, restaurants and food vendors.
“The 2024 National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), tomatoes led the food price index with a staggering 320 per cent year-on-year increase, followed by peppers and other produce.
“These spikes disproportionately affect low-income households, underlining the urgent need for more stable production, better storage and accessible finance across the horticulture value chain.”
Kyari noted the vast importance of positioning the horticultural sector of the country to meet consumers’ demand.
He added that despite the challenges in the horticulture sector, it remained one of the most promising frontiers for agricultural transformation, noting that, unlike staple crop farming, horticulture offered higher value per hectare, ideal for smallholder commercialisation, shorter production cycles and allowing multiple harvests annually.
“The sector also offers climate resilience through protected cultivation and irrigation systems, urban food access through peri-urban farming and logistics integration.
“Horticulture is a high-impact, high-return opportunity sitting at the intersection of agriculture, health, industry, and trade,” he emphasised.
Speaking further, he said, “Crops like tomatoes, pineapples, cucumbers, citrus and plantains have huge domestic demand and are increasingly becoming important commercial crops.
“On food and nutrition security, horticultural crops are rich sources of vitamins A, C, iron, zinc, and folate nutrients vital for child development, maternal health and disease prevention.
“Scaling up their production and affordability is key to ending malnutrition in all its forms,” he added.
He urged financial institutions to map and understand the horticulture value chain from seed to shelf, develop fit-for-purpose financial products, including seasonal credit lines, equipment leasing, invoice discounting, and trade financing.
