Tomato Farmers reap big from drive to raise yields

Tomatoes in one of the greenhouse at the Kenya Seed exhibition stand on June 17, 2024. [Kipsang, Joseph, Standard]

Maryam Sunte has been growing tomatoes for over 10 years.

The small-scale farmer based in Kajiado County shares that her biggest challenges have always been pest and disease attacks, post-harvest losses and limited access to markets for her produce.

This, however, changed when the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) in partnership with the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Initiative (Kafaci) rolled out a five-year project that aims to improve the production of tomato varieties.

The project, which began in 2020 and is scheduled to end this year, also aims to address the current deficit of at least 200,000 metric tonnes.

It focuses on validating improved tomato varieties and agronomic practices, integrating pest and disease management strategies, post-harvest handling, processing and value-addition technologies in Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Kajiado, Garissa, Bungoma and Busia counties. Sunte says the training has equipped her and other farmers with the necessary skills, tools, and knowledge to improve tomato yields through various varieties. As a result, they have significantly increased their production.

“We have gained a lot of technological knowledge that has helped us increase our tomato production. However, the major challenge that we still face is the lack of ready markets for our produce,” said Sunte.

The Director of Crop Systems at Kalro  Lusike Wasilwa notes tomato production is very critical in a country where each household consumes the vegetable in at least two meals every day.

“We have over 300 varieties of tomatoes in Kenya and Kalro continues to improve and breed new varieties and we are currently working on identifying the best irrigation practices for tomato production,” she explains. 

Dr Wasilwa expressed concerns that over 500,000 tomato farmers in Kenya struggle to meet local demand due to poor seed varieties, resulting in low yields, which currently average 8.8 MT per acre against a potential of 20MT per acre.