Nigerians Drag Spain Into Tomato Emergency

Nigerians Drag Spain Into Tomato Emergency

Bunol, an eastern Spanish town turns red every year on the last Wednesday of August, as thousands gather to celebrate 'La Tomatina'.

It has not been a social media story before now, but since the announcement of 'Tomato Ebola' in Nigeria, has caught the attention of many. Nigerians are now poking fun at the festival instead of trying to revolve the impending tomato crisis.

A state of emergency was declared in the Northern part of the country, Kaduna, where farmers are said to have lost 80% of their tomato.

The perpetrator of this damage is a moth called 'Tuta Absoluta' and is reported to have damaged close to 1 billion naira worth of tomatoes.

The damage has since been tagged, 'Tomato Ebola' in remembrance of the damage the Ebola virus caused.

The question is: What is Spain's La Tomatina business in all this?

La Tomatina is a festival where thousands all over the world gather in Spain to take part in a tomato fight. So much tomatoes are being lost in the festival and Nigerians don't seem quite happy with the festival.

#BreakingNews Nigeria Sue Spain for celebrating #Tomatoes throwing #festival. pic.twitter.com/mEyCn50W6y

— Blecyn George Monsi (@Blecyn1) May 25, 2016

LOL"@appledealergh: When tomatoes is 4 for 5Ghs in Accra,Ghana #And you watch dem wasting tomatoes in Spain pic.twitter.com/2jEgWfKavK"

— Marvin Gaye (@Cas4d_dude) May 24, 2016

Spain celebrating La Tomatina 🍅(Tomato festival) throwing tomatoes at each other

Meanwhile in Nigeria we like pic.twitter.com/TCn6UDUi5m

— YOUNG PABLO (@DwayneBlvck) May 23, 2016

La Tomatina; Tomatoes throwing party in Spain. If only these guys know the price of Tomatoes in Nigeria today… pic.twitter.com/JIiKHgWZ8Y

— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) May 23, 2016

Tomatoes throwing festival in Spain. When 4 na 5 H for here. Chai pic.twitter.com/5jypIgPK3N

— Laolu Dada (@laolu_dee) May 22, 2016

Tomatoes festival in Spain 🍅🍅
شايفين الرومانسيه 😍💖 pic.twitter.com/KIi4hqFzku

— ❎MOTAAZ❎ (@motaz_elyamany) March 2, 2016

While we're pricing tomatoes in Yaba, there's a tomato throwing festival in Spain called La Tomatina. #AjalaNG pic.twitter.com/CMcEKUlrsv

— Uche Briggs (@UcheBriggs) September 2, 2015

What is Spain's reaction to Nigerians murmuring?

The town's mayor (who is the chief organiser of the event) told BBC Trending that the festival "should not be blamed" for Nigeria's tomato crop crisis and that he is "open to (see) how we can help, but the problem is very big and we are very small."

Rafa Pérez Gil told us that he was aware that Nigerians had taken to Twitter and Instagram recently to lament (albeit in a very tongue-in-cheek manner) the waste of tomatoes in La Tomatina, but he wanted to assure them that most of the tomatoes used in the August food fight were past their sell-by-date and on the verge of rotting.

Their problem would exist whether our festival happened or not, the mayor said.

He added that he would be open to talking about the issue with Nigerians but was unsure what they as a town could do about it. He conceded that food wastage was an issue that merited a wider discussion.

If you look at the garbage bins in Spain, there is more waste thrown away every day than tomatoes used at La Tomatina

But the festival is yet to hold and optimistically, Nigeria's tomato crisis would have been thrown out then.

#GodSaveNigeria