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| Tomato Farmers count losses |
As the outcry against the ravaging Tuta absoluta disease of tomato continues to resonate, more farmers have lamented their losses to this menace.
A spokesman for Garin Mallam farmers, Mallam Abdullahi who was visibly disturbed owing to his huge losses said it has been losses and more losses.
“It has been very terrible for us this year. For example, in the farm of Mallam Halilu, one of our colleagues, 20 bags of fertilizer were applied and about ₦180,000 worth of seeds .Every day 11 laborers were employed to work on the farm but at the end of the day he could hardly get ₦100,000. His expected yield was for about ₦2million naira but most of the yields were destroyed by the pest.
According to him, some ‘strange ‘pests visit their farms at night when the farmers would have closed for the day.
“We noticed that we leave our farms intact after close of activities only to return the following morning to discover that all have been destroyed. All along we suspected something of that nature is taking place but that now that you have mentioned it and called it a name, I think that is a confirmation”
They also expressed fear that if the menace is not tackled on time, the business of tomato farming and marketing will be paralyzed.
“We have unions and leaders in all sections: tomatoes, maize, wheat etc. We also have unions in the Fadama sector but what I am saying is that we have not heard anything from the government either through the union or directly concerning this Tuta menace. We had to get out chemicals ourselves and spray our farms and some of the chemicals worked and others didn’t”.
In the course of the day-long interaction with the farmers, they lamented that smallholder farmers are always marginalized in the scheme of things while attention especially from government is only on big farms.
“One of the things we small farmers always experience is that whatever has to do with government intervention does not get to us. What we only see from time to time are stakeholders from the private sector. We see some big investors visit us once in a while like Alhaji Aliko Dangote .We only hear sometimes that the Governor or the commissioner visited some big farms and the next minute it is on paper and television that he visited farmers in the state. Authorities should give us a sense of belonging so that we can be carried along in the scheme of things”.
At Dakasoye village, the story was not different as the farmers lamented negligence by government.
According to Mallan Iliya and Mallan Abbas the devastation was massive and they all suffered various losses. When asked whether they had received any government assistance, they said they suspect that some negative elements usually hijack and divert whatever the government’s plans for them especially incentives.
Despite the scholarly efforts by researchers to combat this hydra headed monster threatening tomato production in the country, illiteracy seems to be a hindrance to its effective adoption.
Mallan Abbas said ‘’ we are not educated people and we don’t know exactly what is best and that is why we need the authorities concerned to assist us in this matter. Some of the pesticides we use may not be the right ones and sometimes they may have even expired.
While applauding the visit of the AgroNigeria team, Mallam Abdullahi expressed hope that their plights will get to the right authorities.
“All of us suffered losses at different level s and we did not have any one visit us from the government but with your coming here now we are optimistic that the government will take note of our plight concerning this menace and do something for us’’.
It would be recalled that the price of tomato in the markets had skyrocketed owing to a reported shortage in supply. The Tuta absoluta, a tomato rotting scourge had resurfaced with a harder swipe on the fortunes of tomato farmers whom are predominantly in the northern part of the country.
A spokesman for Garin Mallam farmers, Mallam Abdullahi who was visibly disturbed owing to his huge losses said it has been losses and more losses.
“It has been very terrible for us this year. For example, in the farm of Mallam Halilu, one of our colleagues, 20 bags of fertilizer were applied and about ₦180,000 worth of seeds .Every day 11 laborers were employed to work on the farm but at the end of the day he could hardly get ₦100,000. His expected yield was for about ₦2million naira but most of the yields were destroyed by the pest.
According to him, some ‘strange ‘pests visit their farms at night when the farmers would have closed for the day.
“We noticed that we leave our farms intact after close of activities only to return the following morning to discover that all have been destroyed. All along we suspected something of that nature is taking place but that now that you have mentioned it and called it a name, I think that is a confirmation”
They also expressed fear that if the menace is not tackled on time, the business of tomato farming and marketing will be paralyzed.
“We have unions and leaders in all sections: tomatoes, maize, wheat etc. We also have unions in the Fadama sector but what I am saying is that we have not heard anything from the government either through the union or directly concerning this Tuta menace. We had to get out chemicals ourselves and spray our farms and some of the chemicals worked and others didn’t”.
In the course of the day-long interaction with the farmers, they lamented that smallholder farmers are always marginalized in the scheme of things while attention especially from government is only on big farms.
“One of the things we small farmers always experience is that whatever has to do with government intervention does not get to us. What we only see from time to time are stakeholders from the private sector. We see some big investors visit us once in a while like Alhaji Aliko Dangote .We only hear sometimes that the Governor or the commissioner visited some big farms and the next minute it is on paper and television that he visited farmers in the state. Authorities should give us a sense of belonging so that we can be carried along in the scheme of things”.
At Dakasoye village, the story was not different as the farmers lamented negligence by government.
According to Mallan Iliya and Mallan Abbas the devastation was massive and they all suffered various losses. When asked whether they had received any government assistance, they said they suspect that some negative elements usually hijack and divert whatever the government’s plans for them especially incentives.
Despite the scholarly efforts by researchers to combat this hydra headed monster threatening tomato production in the country, illiteracy seems to be a hindrance to its effective adoption.
Mallan Abbas said ‘’ we are not educated people and we don’t know exactly what is best and that is why we need the authorities concerned to assist us in this matter. Some of the pesticides we use may not be the right ones and sometimes they may have even expired.
While applauding the visit of the AgroNigeria team, Mallam Abdullahi expressed hope that their plights will get to the right authorities.
“All of us suffered losses at different level s and we did not have any one visit us from the government but with your coming here now we are optimistic that the government will take note of our plight concerning this menace and do something for us’’.
It would be recalled that the price of tomato in the markets had skyrocketed owing to a reported shortage in supply. The Tuta absoluta, a tomato rotting scourge had resurfaced with a harder swipe on the fortunes of tomato farmers whom are predominantly in the northern part of the country.
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