I have received an email from one of our blog readers, asking me on how to start tomato business. Though the person did not specify which aspect of the business, I have all the information required to start the business.
Starting a tomato business is a lucrative venture to embark. Many have made quite a fortune from the business. Tomato business in Nigeria is one of the business that one can start with little capital.
Two ways of starting the business
The business is a two way one. What I mean is there are two entry point to the business. So you have an option to choose from any of it.
1. Cultivating and selling the tomatoes
2. Buying the tomatoes and sell them too (especially to households, hotels etc)
Cultivating (Starting your tomato farm)
If you decide to start here, you’ll need a farm to start. The following steps shows you how to go about it.
a. Acquire land
This is a place where the plant will be planted and grow. On your business goals, acquire land that meets your demand today and the future. Make sure it’s in an area where it will be suitable for the growth of the tomatoes. If you’re using your backyard, make sure the soul is the one that will encourage growth. A sunny, well drained part of your garden is best soil for tomatoes
b. Prepare your land
Start preparing your land by weeding the grasses and making soil bed. Use organic fertilizer to work the land with it. Provide good water supply system and water the land for some days. Make sure the PH level is around 6.0 to 6.8. PH is the measure of the soil acidity or alkalinity.
c. Acquire and plant your tomato
The tomato seed comes in a sealed sachet with all the instruction on it. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask the person who an expert. Normally you can get the seedling in any of the ministry of agriculture closer to you and you’ll get the expert support there.
d. Acquire knowledge
You’ll need some knowledge about the farming methods. Sometimes you’ll need to hear it from those who are in the field doing it. Search and read also from the internet, anything you can get your hands on related to tomatoes, read it.
Growing your tomato farm
the length of time between tomato seed germination and harvest varies with the type being grown. But the average is between 65-90 days. Before reaching the harvest time, it’s important to note the following in other to attain maximum growth.
1. Make sure tomatoes are planted where they’ll get at least 10 hours of light preferably in the summer. Leave space between tomatoes for air to freely circulate.
2. Try rotating a little the tomato bed to prevent the risk of soil burn diseases like bacterial and early bright.
3. Water deeply on the soil not on the leaves. Do this every 5-7 days.
4. Remove non-fruit branches. This directs the tomato plants energy into growing bigger and better.
5. Plant your tomato at intervals. This will ensure that not all of your harvest will come at once.
Controlling your production
One major problem having an open tomato farm is it can be affected by the weather. For instance, in a hot season when tomato is yielding more tomatoes, rain will slows the production and it will take time for the tomato to readjust itself.
Hence the need to control your production and one way of doing it is by building a green house. A green house is a building where plants are grown. It comes in different sizes from small to large sized building.
In a green house tomato plants are out of the rain, also temperature won’t drop so low at night. Green house also shade tomatoes from direct sunlight and diffused the sunlight and provides the warm that enables plant to feed regularly. In low temperature, nutrients are unable to be absorbed.
Other advantages of using green house include:
o Longer shelf life
o Great tasting sweet juicy flavour
o Firm shape
o Higher yield
o Longer growing season
o Energy efficiency-requires less water to grow out fruit
o Disease tolerance.
The reason for a green house is to have crops at the time of the year when they can’t be grown.
Selling your tomatoes
You can start selling your tomato from the day you start harvesting it. Remember tomatoes are perishable things. Then starting your marketing should be done before the date of the intended sales. There are various ways people sell their tomatoes, but the most popular is using a basket and the basket comes in various sizes.
Buying and selling
Most of the people who start the tomato business here go in and buy from the farmers in bulk and sell it to people who buy in small to large quantity.
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