Tomato being the most consumed vegetable, its farming remains a huge employer of most farmers despite frequent price fluctuations.
In an industry where prices are highly determined by brokers and not forces of demand and supply, it becomes hard to predict the trends and the best timing.
However, elite farmers are expanding their tomato production capacity daily.
In this article, we shall focus on how farmers can grow good tomatoes correctly and the secret to making high profits in tomato farming.
We shall cover the following topics; you can click to jump right to it.
Bonus points: How to increase tomato yield How to speed up tomato growth How to get tomatoes to produce more fruits
The Kenyan Tomato Industry
Tomato prices in Kenya are determined by weather, supply, demand, and most of all, brokers’ will and greed.
The inability of farmers to access markets has empowered merciless brokers who never farm but eat the biggest pie.
Selling tomatoes in kilograms is the most profitable way for farmers. However, brokers prefer using exploitive units of measure such as hipped crates and Probox.
Farmers sell a bread’s crate of tomato at Sh 500 to Sh 2000 based on the season.
The Best Time to Plant Tomato in Kenya
The perfect time to plant tomatoes should coincide with a low market supply. At least at this time, prices are high giving farmers good margins. High rain season is a good time since most produce is destroyed by rain and market supply is low.
Best Place to Grow Tomatoes
Tomato thrives in fertile, well-drained loam soils in warm areas.
Doing outdoor tomatoes in wet, cool regions increases the cost of production, especially in the control of fungal diseases.
The greenhouse system is ideal in both hot and cold regions as it enables faster growth.
Most Profitable High Tomato Varieties to Grow
To make money in tomato farming, you must select the best tomato variety with faster maturity, high yield, and good tolerance to diseases.
Terminator F1 and Ansal F1 are the best and most profitable outdoor tomatoes to grow in Kenya. Suzzana F1 is the best greenhouse tomato variety.
Terminator F1
A very vigorous, long, determinate, heavy-yielding plant. Deep red-coloured with oval fruits.
Terminator F1 has a maturity of 75 days from transplanting, a fruit weight of 125–150 grams, a yield potential of 40 tons per acre, and a long shelf life of up to 21 days at room temperature. An acre holds a plant population of 8000 plants of terminator.
Ansal F1
Ansal F1 is an elongated square-round tomato hybrid. It is best for open-field environmental conditions.
Ansal F1 brings value to the growers with overall fruit quality, disease package, extended shelf life, and plant yield.
How to Plant a Good Tomato
In outdoor farming, dig planting holes on a spacing of 60 cm by 60 cm or 60 cm by 50 cm. For greenhouse farming, the best tomato planting spacing is 50 cm by 50 cm.
Apply well-decomposed manure, 2 kg per planting hole. Cover with loose soil and water, then drench with Thunder insecticide and Citi Shooter or optimizer.
Then transplant your seedlings. In large-scale farming, sourcing seedlings is economical. However, raising your seedling is economical, and variety is guaranteed. Learn here how to raise quality seedlings.
Tomato Fertilizer Application Schedule Top-dress with DAP, N.P.K. 17.17.17, and CAN fertilizers 14th, 45th, and 60th days after transplanting, respectively.
Application should be done on wet soils at the base of the plant. Any application on the crop’s leaves causes scorching and drying up of the plant.
Apply high-nitrogen foliar fertilizers such as Easygro Vegetative, NPK foliers such as Wuxal, and calcium-boron foliar such as Calcozinc and Calmax on the first, second, and third months, respectively.
Nitrogen foliars boost growth, NPK foliars enhance flowering and fruiting, while calcium and boron prevent blossom end rot and flower abortion.
Worst Tomato Pests and How to Control Them
Tuta Absoluta
This is the most destructive pest in tomato farming due to the infectiveness of most chemicals caused by insects’ nature of damage.
Blotch-shaped mines on leaves are the main damage symptom. Though it prefers leaves and stems, they may also occur underneath the crown of the fruit and even inside the fruit itself. To control Tuta absoluta, spray Belt 4 ml/20 l or Emmeron 10 ml/20 l of water early.
Whiteflies
They feed by sucking sap from the leaves, and in doing so can debilitate the plant, promote the growth of sooty mould on excreted honeydew, cause irregular ripening of tomatoes, and transmit viral pathogens, the worst of which is the tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV).
To control, apply Profile 440EC. 30ml/20L or Emmaron 10ml/20L of water.
Tomato diseases and how to control them
Blight
Tomato early blight is a disease characterized by brown spots with dark concentric rings. The disease spreads rapidly, affecting the leaves, the stem, and finally the fruits.
To control, apply Mistress 72WP at the rate of 30g/20L or Redomil Gold 50g/20L of water.
Tomato yellow leaf spot disease
This starts by affecting the older leaves with greenish-yellow spots begging from the top of the leaf.
Progressively the spots become dark, with affected blossoms also turning black and falling off. The disease also affects the fruits.
For effective control, apply Trinity Gold 452WP. 50g/20L of water.
Cost and profit of tomato farming in Kenya
The cost of tomato production in Kenya is Sh. 185,000. This often varies with season, location, and management. Under good management, an acre can produce 300 crates.
If a farmer sells each crate at Sh. 1000, he earns Sh. 300,000, or Sh. 115,000 profit.
However, if prices are below that, which is the common case, the farmers make losses. Here are the full costs and profits of tomato farming in Kenya.
Bonus Tips
1. How to Increase Tomato Yield To increase yield. Plant with manure 2 kg per plant and then topdress with DAP, NPK 17.17.17, and CAN at the rates of 100 kg per acre. Sufficient irrigation comes in handy in fruit expansion.
2. How to speed up tomato growth. Plant in warm areas, water and feed well promptly with the recommended fertilizers for faster tomato growth.
3. How to Get Tomatoes Produce More Fruits. Spray tomatoes with advanced K (potassium foliar feeds) to enhance flowering and fruiting. This should be combined with Boron to prevent flower and fruit abortion.
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