Ex convict earns living from pomato, the plant that yields both potatoes, tomatoes

Ex-convict came across grafting technique while in prison and now uses it to profit from family farm

By LILLIAN KIARIE

After losing his job as a matatu conductor in Kiambu town due to overindulging in alcohol, Wangoto* became a petty thief to survive.

“I was caught red-handed inside a chicken coop in the middle of the night holding two large birds. How could I even deny that I was stealing them?” he asks. In November 2011, he was sentenced to one year at the Kiambu GK Prison.

The Gachie resident says that this was a blessing in disguise since his prison experience equipped him with new farming skills.

Silver lining

While in prison, he learned about growing tomatoes and potatoes on the same stem through grafting. The resultant plant is called pomato, or in some literature, tomtato.

Wangoto, now reformed, has been growing pomatoes on his family’s two-acre farm.

“I have maximised space on the tract of land by growing tomatoes and potatoes together. This has also eased the time, labour and money I would have used, yet I have still maintained top quality produce,” he says.

Last season, Wangoto says he made over Sh200,000 from his harvest.

“The plant’s production was overwhelming; the pomatoes did extremely well. We might have lost some produce since we did not have market for the whole lot and due to storing in humid areas, but we have since learnt from this and started constructing bigger stores,” he says.

Last year in April, Wangoto and his brother Mwangi were among exhibitors displaying their produce at a Kiambu County farmers’ exhibition at Ndumberi Stadium.

“We shared the grafting technique with other farmers. They have to understand that although these plants don’t seem like they are related, they are part of the same family — the Solanaceae (nightshade) family — so you can graft them,” Mwangi says.

The advantages of the pomato is that since you are planting both tomatoes and potatoes on the same plant, you save on space and time.

You can grow the crop on a balcony or small backyard and harvest enough to subsist on. Grafting also improves resistance to bacteria, fungi, and pests. Wangoto says the grafting process starts with the farmer selecting a potato and tomato plant of about the same height and width.

The graft

With a sharp knife, cut the potato stem about an inch from the roots and make a V-shape cut. “Get rid of the roots from the tomato plant and make a straight cut on the stem. Shape the cut to create a wedge shape that will fit into the potato’s V-shape cut.

“Carefully slide the two cut pieces together and wrap the graft with grafting tape, ensuring it holds. In about three weeks, when the plant starts showing signs of growth, you can remove the grafting tape and replant it.”

Kiambu Prisons GK Farm Manager Samuel Manene adds that you can use a polythene strip to tie the potato bud and the dissected tomato scion together.

“Ensure you carry out the dissection high above soil levels to hinder disease-causing organisms from infecting the upper plant. After grafting, the tomato leaves continue making food for the potato tubers beneath the soil,” he said.

Embed the grafted plants 10cm deep in troughs about 70cm apart and with 30cm between tubers.

When planting, mix fertiliser into the soil at a rate of about 1kg of fertiliser for every 35m of trough. Weed and earth up the pomatoes as they grow, with the final earthing up to be done when the plant is 25cm high. Ensure you constantly irrigate the plants.

Food commodity

The potato is the most important non-grain food commodity in Kenya. The crop grows best in cool altitudes of between 1,500 to 2,300 metres above sea level in loamy soil.

Potatoes and tomatoes are prone to attack by late blight and bacterial wilt. “It is thus recommended that you spray fungicides, and since there is no chemical control for bacterial wilt, use  clean, resistant seed varieties and carry out crop rotation with cereals,” Mwangi says.

Note that grafting can affect the flavour of tomatoes (though some say those on the pomato have a sweeter taste). Also, grafted plants can yield less fruit than two separate plants grown from seeds.

It is thought that the pomato was first tried out in Kenya in 2010 by Kamiti Prison inmates who were guided by Chinese literature on the grafting process.

* Wangoto is a nickname.

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