Tree tomato farmer finds secret path to plucking riches

SUMMARY
-Previously working as casual labourer in Tanzania, George Wambugu
saw a friend's tomato farm and knew growing tree tomatoes was his
path to success.

-In a month, after deducting all his expenses, Mr Wambugu, who is a
school drop-out, says he is able to bank more than Sh80,000, money he
says he never expected to earn.

casual workers im mr.Wambugu's farm

-Currently, Mr Wambugu has 2,000 trees of the fruits and he is
preparing two more acres of land that he bought recently to plant
more tomatoes.

Four years ago, George Wambugu realised that he was not doing well
financially as a casual labourer in Tanzania.

His work was to deliver medical drugs to various chemists in Tanzania
but he earned very little.

One weekend, he was invited by his friend back home in Nyeri and he
describes what he saw in his farm as ‘‘wonders.’’

‘‘My friend had half an acre of land all decorated in red and green.

What was in his farm was tree tomatoes that originated from New
Zealand,’’ he says.

He saw the farm and knew growing tree tomatoes was his path to
success.

Mr Wambugu quit his job, asked his friend where he could buy the
seeds and using the little cash that he had saved, he bought a 50
gramme tin of ‘Red Oratia” tree tomatoes seeds for Sh11,300.

Realising that he didn’t have enough money, Mr Wambugu sold his only
dairy cow to buy seedlings.

Having tried hand at growing cabbages and beans, which didn’t do
well, he says he decided to buy both the seeds and seedlings just to
make sure that his efforts, this time round, would not fail him.

Mr Wambugu says at first, he planted a few seedlings of the new
species of Red Oratia tree tomatoes in a small parcel of land located
near a river that his parents gave him.

From the first harvest, he was surprised to earn Sh20,000. This lifted
his spirits and he planted more seedlings.

Currently, Mr Wambugu has 2,000 trees of the fruits and he is
preparing two more acres of land that he bought recently to plant
more of this species that take eight months to produce fruits.

He prefers this species because about 97 per cent of the Red Oratia
tree tomato fruit is edible and has no seeds inside and has a shelf span
of six months before it goes bad.

Sh80,000
Apart from selling tree tomato fruits, he also sells seedlings of the Red
Oratia species at Sh50 each.

 

He sells his tree tomato fruits at Sh100 per kilogramme in Nairobi.
“The market is there. Infact am not able to satisfy demand and this is
the reason why am now coaching other farmers to grow this fruit,”
he said.

With a fruit processing plant set to be opened in Naromoru, he is
eyeing higher returns.

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