Frustrated tomato farmer says it’s time to turn waste into opportunities

Challenges Zambia
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

Nicknamed the “red gold”, the humble tomato is a staple in every Zambian home, used daily by millions of households from Mongu to Lusaka to Mansa. But as farmers have sought to fill the ever-growing demand for the fruit, so the inevitable booms in production have caused big price fluctuations that have seen farmers dumping their tomatoes at markets such as Soweto.

Social media, amid rising anger at the wastage, highlighted the bad practice recently, with images of rotting piles of tomatoes causing concern and anger among many.

Aware of the need to address this wasteful practice, the team at Challenges Zambia decided to get an insight into Zambia’s tomato industry, which has undergone massive changes in recent years as smallholder farmers turned their attention to the “red gold”.

We spoke to one smallholder farmer named Annie-Marie Sievu from Lusaka, who gave us an expert insight into the trends and issues now affecting the multi-million business. Anne-Marie took over the family farm last year, while working in Canada and running the farm remotely.

She said: “A lot of people have found the tomato business attractive and this has prompted them into joining, hence increasing the number of people supplying tomatoes on the market. This is the reason why the supply is exceeding the demand and has resulted in a drop in tomato prices.”

Smallholder farmers, she adds, have been terribly affected by price fluctuations, and have had little choice but to drop their prices or risk losing their existing customers. As a way of protecting smallholders, Anne suggests the creation of a price floor for tomatoes, similar to the way the government regulates maize prices. But she says this with caution, warning that the tomato business could become as volatile as the maize market if the government were allowed to regulate.

Anne also said she was becoming increasingly frustrated at the tomato wastage, a result of the glut of tomatoes on the market. As a result, Anne now wants tomato farmers to start working together to begin processing the tomatoes for both local and export markets, adding value at the production stage of the value chain. One idea was the production of sun-dried tomatoes for export, while trying to also grow demand within Zambia. Tomato pastes and sauces are other ideas, especially as these products are imported into Zambia in great volume.

Anne also called for greater co-operation among smallholders and to bring in greater regulation, as well as work to stop wastage.

We at Challenges wholeheartedly agree with Anne. Smallholder holder farmers need to take advantage of the demand from the market and use that as an opportunity to further explore the international market. We also share Anne’s sadness and frustration that despite having such abundance in tomatoes with many tonnes going to waste, Zambia still imports end products such as tomato paste and sauce.

Like Anne, we hope this will serve as a wake-up call for government officials, stakeholders and other parties to work towards a more integrated agriculture and manufacturing sector. Excess tomatoes should not go to waste in this manner, but should be used to produce other products such as tomato paste and purees, which are equally in demand and offer great export potential. Who knows, perhaps in a few years’ time, Zambia could be famous internationally for its burgeoning “red gold”. With dynamic and innovative people like Anne-Marie Sievu driving the change, we think that’s increasingly likely.

Challenges Zambia

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