If fluctuating tomato prices are a trend, why are farmers still losing out?

“Yes, tomato price fluctuation is a trend, and it has been happening for years, but the problem is that knowing a trend and preparing for it are two different things, and right now at Soweto Market we are seeing the law of supply and demand at work because too many farmers planted at the same time and are now harvesting and flooding the market at the same time,” said Munsunge.

He said simultaneous harvesting means large volumes of tomatoes are competing for the same buyers, pushing prices down regardless of the quality of produce reaching the market.

“When you have thousands of boxes of Grade A, B, and C tomatoes competing for the same buyers, prices must fall, and that’s why we are seeing K5, K10, K20, 25, and K60 per box, while farmers are still losing because production is not planned and most farmers plant once and pray instead of staggering their production,” said Munsunge.

He said high production costs and limited alternative markets further expose farmers when prices collapse, particularly because tomatoes are highly perishable and cannot be stored for long without appropriate facilities.

“Chemicals, fertilizer, and labor can cost between K10,000 and K15,000 to produce a lima of tomatoes, so when you sell at K25 per box, you cannot recover that, and because we don’t have enough cold rooms, processing plants, or contracted markets, farmers have nowhere else to go when Soweto is flooded except to sell at a loss or watch their tomatoes rot,” said Munsunge.

The agronomist noted that farmers who consistently produce throughout the year and stagger their planting stand a better chance of surviving the repeated price swings than those who depend on a single harvest.

“Tomato will go from K5 today to K250 tomorrow and even K500 next month, so if you are in the field continuously, you average out, but if you plant once, you gamble once, and farmers are still losing because we are treating tomato farming like a seasonal gamble instead of a business that requires planning, storage, and market linkages,” he said.

Article by Philip Sinkala