“The deployment of different strategies locally, to tackle tomato Ebola is the key, rather than using foreign technology which might not be applicable to the Nigeria climate and weather.” These were the words of a one-time Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mufutau Animashaun during an interview session.


Talking about Tuta absoluta which is also known as Tomato Ebola , Dr. Animashaun said it is a soil born pest, and is considered as one of the most devastating pest that feeds on tomatoes, garden egg, potatoes, and tobacco plants. Tuta absoluta pest spreads very quickly; it has a high reproductive potential and a life cycle that can take between 24 to 76 days, depending on the environmental conditions.

Their activity is concentrated in the early morning and dusk; during the rest of the day they remain hidden among the leaves. Adult lifespan ranges between 10 and 15 days for females and six to seven days for males. The female lays the eggs mainly on the leaves, although they can also be found on stems and sepals. Eggs are laid isolated, thus facilitating their distribution on the crop. The number of eggs per female is usually between 40 and 50 and may reach 260.

Dr Animashaun who is also a former Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) Deputy Rector; Director, School of Agriculture, Ikorodu, said many approaches can be adopted to tackle this pest. First is the approach of attacking the insects itself at the reproduction stages from the egg to adult. “It’s not about attacking at the point of attack, but killing the egg before hatching, that is completely wiping it off from our farmland nationwide. We need an Entomologist report to identify the specie of the pest, because it’s possible that the specie that can survive in Kano and Kaduna might not survive in Jos and Yola because of the varied temperature.”

“That means we have to develop many strategies and approaches. Another approach is to identify which stage of the lifecycle that attacks and infects the fruits either the larva, pupa or the adult state, because I know that it’s a moth that reproduces twelve times a year and it can be terminated before it matures to age that attacks the fruit. The third is the pesticide method: though some experts have suggested the use of pesticides, we have to be very careful, some pesticides are systemic, you intend to control the insects but the tomatoes can take it up and when eaten fresh can be carcinogenic and cause harm to the human body.”

He buttressed further that the idea of providing chemicals to combat the pest is not the best, rather, a long term approach should be deployed by studying the lifecycle and involve all the entomologists who will provide a long term plan to eradicate it totally. The immediate control is the use of chemicals, which is not a sure bet. The five states affected by the outbreak include Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and Nasarawa. The disease has also spread to Lagos, Oyo and Ogun state.

To prevent this pest from spreading to other states, professionalism and ethics should come to play. An entomology test should be conducted on the different species and use the right approach from the result finding to contain it so that there won’t be another outbreak in future and not the usual fire brigade approach that is always palliative in nature. Any problem in this country has its own solution here and not a borrowed solution; it might solve the problem but, temporarily.

Dr. Animashau concluded thus, “I am unequivocally saying that I can solve this Ebola tomatoes outbreak locally in synergy with other indigenous plant protection experts.”