Mid-summer and South African shelves are replete with tomatoes. According to Clive Garrett, marketing manager of tomato producer ZZ2, tomato volumes are up this year with good rains swelling the Limpopo River, along which some of their farms lie. However, as in other sectors, rain also brings complications: “Tomatoes like water but they don't like rain." ZZ2 is famous for their holistic approach to pest and disease management, which is working out well for them: they produce 40% of South Africa’s tomatoes, about 160 000t annually.
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Furthermore, their location close to three of South Africa’s neighbours, particularly Zimbabwe, works in their favour: market agents from Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique visit fresh produce markets in Polokwane (capital city of Limpopo Province) and Mooketsi, where some of ZZ2’s farms are located. The latter market was formalised in 2014, and in this way fresh produce makes its way into Southern Africa – about 80 to 100t of tomatoes, 5t onions and 3 to 4t avocados daily.
At the opposite end of the country, on the Eastern Cape coast, lies Red Baron, a smaller tomato producer that specialises in vine tomatoes. According to packhouse manager Doran Simon, they produce about 250t monthly (up to 350t during December, their peak season) of the Kairos and Celestino varieties.
As has been anticipated for a number of years, Tuta absoluta (tomato leaf miner) has finally arrived in South Africa. Last year it was detected in pheromone traps on a tomato farm in the northeast of the country, close to the Mozambican border. The damage is caused by the larva (caterpillar) of the leaf miner moth. It is a serious threat to the industry; in other countries there have been cases of 100% yield loss. ZZ2 hasn't had any sightings of tomato leaf miner damage on their farms, Garrett says.
The Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security in Botswana has already placed a ban on the importation of South African tomatoes in an effort to curb its spread. The outbreak of tomato leaf miner in northern Namibia is regarded as very serious.
Tomato leaf miner doesn’t only pose a threat to tomato production: according to the Agricultural Research Council, the International Potato Centre in Peru regards Tuta absoluta as a major pest on potato foliage. However, its impact on potato tubers as well as on other members of the Solanaceae family (like aubergines) is unclear and remains under study.
For more information:
Clive Garrett
ZZ2
Tel: +27 15 395 8460
Email: cliveg@zz2.biz