"China: "Cherry tomatoes in high demand"

"The cherry tomato has become very popular in recent years. Compared with other ordinary tomatoes, it is more expensive, and it tastes like a crunchy and sweet fruit. However, there are several restrictions on their planting - e.g. the low-yield which is only 22.5 ton/ha, the higher planting cost, and the limited suitable areas. All of these factors result in limited supplies in China," said Ding Song, of the Beijing Guanshu Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., in an interview with FreshPlaza.com.

"We have built a greenhouse base at Horqin Grassland in Inner Mongolia, which covers an area of 6.7 hectares. Our tomatoes are mainly supplied to the e-commerce platform in Beijing and a Japanese supermarket in Chengdu. The supply season is from September of the current year till June of the next year. In order to continuously supply the market throughout the year, we are making efforts in planting, variety selection, technology applications, and making sure of the good quality of our products."

"The reason why we select Horqin Grassland in Inner Mongolia as our plantation base is mainly because it is the most suitable area for growing sweet crops. This area is located at 44 degrees north latitude, with a dry climate, and the temperature difference between day and night is as big as 13 to 16 degrees. There are more than 2,900 hours of light exposure throughout the year. In order to ensure the quality of our products, we exclusively use the seed variety provided by a Japanese tomato breeding company. In addition, with the concept of safety, nutrition, and deliciousness, we use non-GMO varieties and follow organic agriculture process, irrigate the tomatoes by milk, use cattle and sheep manure as organic fertilizers, and use bumblebees for pollination."

"Our tomato has been in high demand since it was introduced to the market. In the future, as consumers incomes increase and the demand for healthy food is growing, I believe that the demand for our tomato will continue to increase. To better serve consumers, we are looking for partners in plantation and distribution to expand supply of tomatoes."