Food Insecurity: Benson Idahosa University wants to produce Tomatoes for Nigeria, oppose grass importation

With current rising costs and biting scarcity of tomatoes in Nigeria, the Benson Idahosa University is taking up the challenge and made an announcement of an ambitious project to grow tomatoes for the country. 

The Faculty of Agriculture of the university, according to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ernest Izevbigie will grow about 800 thousand tonnes of tomatoes and carefully monitor them for quality. He said that the  food security in Nigeria is being threatened addressing the tomato disease that has been ravaging some states in the North, remarked:

“we are at risk of food insecurity; that is what is happening now. If you have food security, you will have plenty of food available. But food security in this country is being threatened.”

Professor Izevbigie said however that in order to address the challenges posed by the tomato disease, his university is planning to produce 800,000 tons of tomatoes, saying:

“we are making an audacious statement that Benson Idahosa University is poised to produce 800,000 tons of tomatoes to ameliorate the present shortage in the supply of tomatoes in Nigeria in the next one year,” he said.

He noted that the university’s agriculture department also had the technology to cultivate grass, which would ameliorate the effects of cattle grazing, adding that Nigeria should become more self-sufficient in terms of forage crops production, as the country has the proper soil and climate for such crops to thrive.  

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