Some traders on the market have raised concerns about the current pricing of tomatoes which has decreased as a result of the high supply in the market.
Speaking to the Zambian Business Times, Fruit and Vegetable Association president Bernard Sikunyongana disclosed that as of late (16th August 2023) a box of tomatoes was going at K100 in the morning and was by afternoon trading at K40. He said normally a box is supposed to range above K100 with K100 being the lowest considering the increase in transport cost.
Sikunyongana said the challenge in the tomato business is that there is no coordination in the production of the commodity. He recognized a time last year when there was a serious supply of tomatoes and the demand was low with a box going at K20 due to a farmer who decided to do a centre pivot for tomatoes thereby increasing the supply while the demand was almost the same which distorted everything.
He said with normal production, the supply is the same with just a small increase due to the addition of new farmers, but not at a rate caused by the other farmer who was sending about 17 trucks to Lusaka in a day, 17 to Kasumbalesa, and about 10 trucks in Copperbelt.
Sikunyongana said during the rainy season, some farmers do not produce but do it immediately after the rains due to lots of diseases. He said up to now they are still harvesting, and a challenge may perhaps surface in October because some of the small rivers and dams will be dry as well as low water levels from boreholes. He said the players will be few come October and November with changes to come in December.
In regards to this Sikunyongana said farmers must be protected and has hence called on the government to buy their proposal of putting up cold rooms. He said the government must consider the initiative of putting up cold rooms in markets noting that when tomatoes are ready, one cannot wait but harvest. “So we need to find a mechanism on how the Local government can start putting up cold rooms in those big markets for the farmers to be able to store the tomatoes. There is panic in the farmer when the farmer goes today goes in the morning and finds that there is plenty of tomato, they panic and reduce the price. Today the price can be maybe as low as K50, come five days later the same box it at K150 – K200” said Sikunyongana.
He said this has been a challenge for farmers because there are no cold rooms where they can keep their goods when plenty for the price to stabilize. “We want to see how we can engage the local government with cold rooms that can be able to keep these things than throwing them away, because surely you will find the price of tomato, in the morning it can be at K100, 12 hours it is at K50, 16 hours it is at K20, why? The farmer wants to go back and have nowhere to live their tomatoes in a cold room that they can maintain the standards” said Sikunyongana. He said due to this they get forced to give them away.
He said Zambia must start positioning itself as a hub for trade from every angle. He noted that if a farmer wants to export tomatoes, they need to be in a cold room for at least several days at a certain temperature. He said without doing so, they will not qualify for export.
