The staple has been very expensive in the last two months as a result of acute scarcity, which the federal government blamed on tuta absoluta, a pest also known as ‘tomato ebola’.
Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture, had said the government was making efforts to contain the outbreak which had ravaged six states.
But speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Mohammed said insecurity in the north-east had forced many farmers out of the zone.
“People talk about the price of tomato but they forget one thing; they forget that the price of tomato today is a direct result of the fact that we have lost two years harvest to Boko Haram insurgency,” he said.
“Most of the people you see riding Okada (motorcycles) in Lagos are people who would have been in the farm to produce consumable items.”
When asked if he was convinced that the tomato scarcity could be attributed to insurgency, he said: “Absolutely! Do you farm where there is war? We have lost two seasons of harvest, in addition we have had very poor rainfall last year and this year. These are the combined factors responsible for the scarcity of tomato. Go and ask economists and agriculturists, they will tell you.”
Mohammed also said the prevalence of clashes between farmers and herdsmen was as a result of climate change, saying government refused to heed past warnings on the situation.
“When you look at the herdsmen and farmers clashes, I think its neglect of many years. More than 15, 20 years ago, we were warned all over the world that as a result of climate change there could be conflicts and we should take steps to avert such clashes, but we did not listen,” he said.
“What is happening is that there is a gradual reduction in natural resources. If you take Lake Chad for instance, it has lost almost 90% of its waters over a couple of years and Lake Chad sustained and supported livelihood of farmers and fishers, with the loss of waters, you see a migration southwards. Now government all over the world were warned that these were the consequences of climate change.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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This man is always talking on what he does not know. So it is Book Haram that is also responsible for the extremely high cost of virtually all food items in the market today?
ReplyDeleteIt is the dividend of APC change. Our change don to pains chains and hopelessness. Sai Baba!
Hmmmmmm Oga Lie and his lies,again it is boko haram and not Tuta abi?blame GEJ again,we have lost two seasons,one for GEJ and one for PMB abi?stop lying to us,we no d reasons after all it was not scarce when Jonathan was dere and d insecurities was too bad den as you described it,how come its scarce now that you have won d war against insurgency since last year Dec?no wonder PMB pity u more cos of ur lies.I wish you can read dis comment.
ReplyDelete.... Good talk Adewale!
DeleteNo it's the past administration?!!
ReplyDeleteNo. Is Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteNo! Its Joha or even Obasonjo. Ahhh these people ehhhh hmmmm. Are u pple still doing campaign? Una don win oh pls start work and stop the campaign. The condemnation Jona has got is more than prison itself. Everyday Joha, ant bite u Na jonathan, U fail na jonathan. A hahahhahaahahaaa. Leave this may alone and start work.
ReplyDeleteLie Lie Mohamed. Boko Haram again. Na mistake na Niger Delta avengers
ReplyDeleteOga liar Moh'd sorry lai Moh'd. U sure say no be Jonathan cause am? Think again oh. Abi na slip of tongue?
ReplyDeleteThis government won't stop to amaze me. One minister will come up with one excuse on an issue, another will counter it with another excuse. A government built on lies with it's spokesperson aptly manifesting the lies by name LIAR MOHAMED.
ReplyDelete"we have lost two years harvest to Boko Haram insurgency,” he said."
ReplyDeleteTwo years loss means land fallowing, so we should expecting a bumper harvest very soon! (Lol).
Lai Mohammed had to make a fool of himself.....
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that it is the tuta absoluta that ravaged the tomato plantations, and he had to to come up with this foolish statements?
Is there nothing else he could have spoken about that could have made more sense?
Smh!
Nooo,na past administration causam, a beg.clueless entity.
ReplyDeleteTHIS MAN IS BECOMING DISGUSTINGLY STUPID, I WONDER HOW HIS WIFE COPES WITH THIS RETARDED PETTINESS
ReplyDelete