The Federal Government says it has found a pesticide capable of killing a species of moth that has ravaged the country’s tomato crop.
Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, made the disclosure in Abuja during a meeting with Kids-Fest Nigeria said National Institute for Chemical Technology, NARICT, in Zaria, developed the pesticide agent using natural resources available in the country.
Onu maintained that the development of the pesticide agent, the expected mass production by industrialists and support from other sources would be a sure for Nigeria to contribute to food security in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.
He also said: “Following the leadership provided by President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria will soon be in a position where other nations can copy from her rather than Nigeria copying at all times from other nations.”
The Tomato Leaf Miner moth has destroyed 80% of tomato farms in Kaduna state, in the north of the country.
Other states, particularly in the north, have been badly hit too.
But farmers affected by the moth will have to wait as the new pesticide is not commercially available yet.