Why you are paying more for tomatoes

Tomatoes are sold at Muthurwa Market in Nairobi on February 12, 2020. Their prices have increased. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In Olektukat, Siyiabei and Eor Ekule in Narok East and Naroosura in Narok South, the crop is grown on river banks under irrigation.
  • The destruction of the farms, he said, saw tomato supplies decline across the country, pushing the commodity price from Sh4,500 to Sh11,000 per crate.

Feeling the pinch of the high cost of tomatoes? Blame it on the open skies, which are not good for producing the popular vegetable.
And don’t expect any relief soon.

The Kenya Meteorological Department says the sporadic showers will continue until the long rains take over. If this happens, shortage of tomatoes will persist, and whenever available, the forces of supply and demand will dictate how deep households will dig into their purses or wallets.

IRRIGATION

In Olektukat, Siyiabei and Eor Ekule in Narok East and Naroosura in Narok South, the crop is grown on river banks under irrigation.

Many farmers say the unexpected rains towards the end of last year, which continued into February, affected growing of the crop, leading to losses of millions of shillings.

Mr Moses Ng’ang’a, a tomato farmer at Naroosura, which is among the leading producers in the country, said he spent at least Sh1.4 million on his nine-acre piece.

Speaking in Narok Town last week, the farmer said he was preparing for a bumper harvest in September when all hell broke loose.

“The unexpected rains came and could not stop. Farms become water logged. The tomatoes were immersed in the floodwaters and began rotting while the plants started wilting and the whole investment went down the drain,” Mr Ng’ang’a said.

SUPPLIES DECLINE

The destruction of the farms, he said, saw tomato supplies decline across the country, pushing the commodity price from Sh4,500 to Sh11,000 per crate.

The scarcity has seen the price of tomatoes double then triple in some areas, posing a challenge to many families already struggling in a depressed economic environment.

In the past two months Kenyans have continued to pay a fortune with a single tomato going for between Sh25 and Sh35 across the country.

“Last year, the heavy rains affected production. As usual, we planted in September targeting the December-January market. But then the heavy rains completely destroyed our crop. We have witnessed a high incidence of tomato disease infestation since December, mostly tomato blight,” Mr Ng’ang’a said.

Mr Josphat Simbai, who planted his 12 acres along the Naroosura River, said the whole farm was washed away by floodwaters. The disappointed farmer abandoned the venture, and turned the farm pastureland.

COMPLETE DESTRUCTION

“Swathes of our land were submerged, leading to wash-away or complete destruction of tomatoes, and since it became difficult to spray pesticides on the crops, as the rainwater would wash away the chemicals, the few remaining plants decayed on the farms,” Mr Simbai said.
Most places including Kajiado have experienced shorter-than-normal breaks, with the last two months being generally wet.

To add to the farmers’ troubles is the problem of impassable roads that has caused them nightmares with the small harvest they got unable to reach the market on time.

“When a lorry gets stuck in the mud, we are forced to unload and air the tomatoes in the open to minimise rotting. Unfortunately, more than half [of the crop] goes bad,” Mary Gathoni a trader from Nakuru said.