(Ecofin Agency) - Zambia National Farmers’ Union, ZFNU, has warned that prices of tomatoes might explode if nothing is done to contain the tuta absoluta outbreak that the country currently faces.

ZFNU’s outreach manager, Coillard Hamusimbi, as he was meeting the country’s producers said around 15% of 300,000 Zambian tomato producers have had their harvest affected by the outbreak. In order to overcome this challenge, ZNFU teamed up with the ministry of agriculture, tomato processors and agrochemical producers, as well to the Zambia Institute of Agricultural Research, ZARI, to find measures to counter the outbreak.

Tuta absoluta is a pest which ravages plantations in West Africa where it drove the Kano state to declare the emergency state as tomato scarcity caused the price of tomatoes to increase in local markets. 

Aaron Akinocho