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I am very much interested in Agricultural arming in general; this is because I understand that over 80% of the Kenyan Population depends on agriculture for their incomes and livelihoods. Moreover, agriculture is considered as the second leading income generating mechanism for the country.

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Kenya has stated greenhouse production of tomatoes, raising hopes that the popular vegetable will become available throughout the year at affordable prices. In the new system developed by the Kenya Horticulture Development Program (KHDP) and agricultural inputs suppliers seminis seeds and Osho Chemical Industries (OCI), a grower requires about 240 square metre of land and a greenhouse kit ot get started.

The chapter Kit, comprising a 500 litre water tank, irrigation drip lines, plastic sheets seeds and chemicals has been put at Ksh 150,000 for those participating in the project. The plot of land can grow 1,000 plants. According to the KHDP; the greenhouse tomato project, one of the activities the programme is supporting to help increase the incomes of rural households, is borrowed from Israel, where the country has most of its agriculture under green house due to scarcity of water and land. It’s also widely practiced in the United States.

If the concept is widely embraced, Kenya could start enjoying year-round supply of tomatoes, which currently get damaged during the wet seasons, pushing prices through the roof. According to Peter Randa, the marketing Manager and project technical advisor, growing crops under greenhouse has many advantages, among them the ability to produce huge quantities on a small piece of land and continuous harvesting. The tomatoes have a shelf life of 21 days compared with 14 for those growing in the open. It takes a shorter period-two months for greenhouse produced tomatoes to mature, while it takes a minimum of three months with outfloor farming.

Due to controlled irrigation and temperatures, the crop sports a continuous output of flowers and fruits, all at different stages. One plant has a potential of up-to 15kg at first harvest, going up-to 60kg by the time it has completed its full cycle-recommended at one year.

The plant vines are supported inside the greenhouse with sticks and strings, growing up to 50 metres in height. If well looked after, the minimum plot of land under greenhouse production can yield up-to 25,000 tonnes of tomatoes.

Tomatoes are generally highly susceptible to diseases requiring heavy application of pesticides but under the greenhouse growing technologies which comes with basic training on hygiene , most of common infections are easily kept at bay. Also kept a bay are insects and other pests known to invade plants as well as seeds. Apart from huge part of production costs, less labour is employed in a greenhouse, while exposure to chemical toxins associated with application is minimized or eliminated altogether. It’s also good for the environment.



Planting materials for the greenhouse tomato production have been specially developed as high yielding, although they can grow outdoor as well. For this programme, the partners are recommending the Annef I hybrid tomato seeds developed by seminis East Africa (SEA). On its part, Osho Chemicals is providing free chemicals to farmers in the initial stages of planting as well as technical advice on application, said marketing manager James Ndabi.



The introduction of greenhouse tomatoes in Kenya Heralds what could be a major shift from open pollinated farming to hybrid high yielding methods, which if adopted in other sectors could lead to massive improvements in crop production, output, incomes and ultimately self-sufficiency in food production.

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