ABU develops remedy for Tomato Ebola

THE Vice Chancellor, Ah­madu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, says researchers in the institution have success­fully developed a remedy for Tuta Absoluta, popularly called Tomato Ebola.

Garba who made the dis­closure while responding to questions on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said the university’s Institute of Ag­ricultural Research (IAR), which carried out the re­search, had since submitted its findings to the Minister of Agriculture.

He added that due to the discovery, the spread of Tuta Absoluta had since been checked.

“Our Institute of Agricul­tural Research has already done quite a lot of work and has actually submitted a re­port to the minister.

“They studied the out­break, found the remedy and it has already been ar­rested. We gave the report to the government a few weeks back to tell government that this is what it is and what should be done to forestall future happening or to con­tain it.’’

The VC said the univer­sity’s Agricultural Research Complex accommodates the Faculty of Agriculture, Institute of Agricultural Re­search (IAR), the National Agricultural Extension and Liaison Services as well as the National Animal Pro­duction and Research Insti­tute (NAPRI).

He said the university also had division agricultural colleges at Mando in Ka­duna, Samaru in Zaria and Kabba in Kogi.

Garba explained that IAR had the national mandate on nine crops to produce varieties that could with­stand and tolerate the envi­ronmental conditions in the country by improving their yields.

He said the centre had so far developed about nine varieties of sorghum that fit­ted into different ecological areas of Nigeria.

The don also disclosed that in NAPRI, the institu­tion was currently carrying out artificial insemination and modifying the genetic composite of animals like cattle, goats, sheep, pig, don­keys and camels.

“In the IAR, we have the national mandate on about nine crops.

“What that mandate means is that we produce varieties of those crops that can withstand and tolerate our environment and im­prove yields on sorghum, cowpea, cotton and ground­nut. But in sorghum alone, we have developed almost about nine varieties that fit into different ecological ar­eas of Nigeria.

“In NAPRI, they are do­ing artificial insemination where they are modifying the genetic composite of our animals.”