Abuja, May 8, 2025 – Nigeria has lost more than N1.3 billion to the outbreak of tomato pests popularly called tomato leaf miner or tomato Ebola in three states.
The affected states are Kano, Katsina and Kaduna.
Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture, disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday at the ongoing four-day capacity building workshop for financial institutions.
He said the outbreak had consequently led to average price increase of a 50kg basket of tomatoes from N5,000 to N10,000 and ultimately N30,000, exacerbating food inflation and straining household budgets.
Kyari said the outbreak of the tomato pests had underscored the fragility of the country’s horticultural systems as the pest could decimate tomato crops within 48 hours, leading to catastrophic yield losses.
He said that there was the urgent need for integrated pest management strategies, investment in resilient crop varieties and enhanced support for farmers to safeguard the country’s food supply chains.
