Farmers urged to plant winter tomato

Farmers have been urged to plant winter tomato due to high prices it fetches at the market as supply is far outstripped by demand, an official has said.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Wonder Chabikwa said farmers must venture into tomato farming as it produces high prices on the market

Farmers should  plant  the crop in winter to maximize high  profits as more  of  them are reluctant of planting the  crop in winter , because  they  argue that they  lack facilities such as greenhouses but they lack knowledge that there are some method which can be used  instead."
He said farmers should turn to horticultural such as tomatoes due to a low rate of disease that affect the plant in winter.

"we  urge  farmers to  concentrate on  growing  other  crops  like tomatoes  because diseases that affect the plant are  very  low  in  winter and  this  can also act  as  a  substitute  to wheat  farmers  who could  not  meet the deadlines  which was on 25 May."

"Most tomatoes disease prefer hot and wet diseases so in winter we expect low and no disease at all."

Farmers in Zimbabwe have also been urged to be on the lookout for leaf frost as it damages and affects the crop growth.

"Tomato plants are sensitive to frost and other harsh weather conditions caused by the winter season so farmers  should  be on  the  lookout is leaf frost as  it  damages  the  crop, they  should take preventive measures such  as lighting up fire to give  a lot of  smoke to the tomatoes and this will prevent the frost from accumulating at the plant.

Chabikwa also said most farmers abandon the crop during low temperature seasons due to lack of facilities like Green Houses.

We urge farmers not to abandon the crop because they lack facilities such as green houses that protect the plant from frost because we have traditional methods such as irrigating at where there will be plenty of frost.