Private, government companies to partner in Zimbabwe tomato canning plant

Thee Zimbabwe Independent reports that Schweppes Zimbabwe and the State-owned Agricultural and Rural Development Authority(ARDA) are 'finalising a deal to kick-start a multi-million dollar tomato canning plant at Arda Balu Estate in Umguza district surrounding Bulawayo which has been lying idle,' as well as the revival of another derelict plant in Norton, on the outskirts of the capital city Harare.

The chairman of the ARDA Board is reported to have said Shweppes would provide US$2,2 million in working capital. He said the project would produce tomato paste. Around 70% of the produce will be for the export market while the remainder will cater for the domestic market.

He said the planting of tomatoes by farmers will commence immediately as the authority and Schweppes thrashed out the final details of their agreement. This, he added, will ensure the processing of tomatoes will begin in November this year. 

Previous reports this year have mentioned an expected output of 60 tonnes a day for the 'so-called Zagrinda Project.'

ARDA has dozens of vast farms under its portfolio, most of them under-performing for many years. Despite this, government is reluctant to let go of them given the sensitivity of anything to do with land after the controversial land reform exercise that began a decade an a half ago. Despite the potential of the properties, private investors are wary of partnerships with the Zimbabwean government that involve agricultural land, given the latter's recent notoriety in regards to the expropriation of once white-owned land as part of land reform.

Schweppes Zimbabwe, once a subsidiary of Coca Cola,  is one of the country's leading producers of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. While the beverages sector has been performing above the average in a depressed Zimbabwean economy of job losses, shrinking incomes and demand, Schweppes and other companies in the sector have recently reported declines in sales. An exploration of regional export opportunities and the diversification represented by the partnership with ARDA on the tomato canning project can be seen as measures to survive Zimbabwe's currently depressed market for most non-essential goods and services.

African Agriculture      

The horrific birth defects linked to tomato pesticides

by Barry Estabrook

The 'Immokalee babies' were born with severe deformities after their mothers were each exposed to pesticides whilst harvesting tomatoes. Barry Estabrook reports on the case that shocked the US

Tower Cabins is a labour camp ...just south of Immokalee, a city in the heart of southwest Florida’s tomato-growing region.

The community of poor migrant labourers is dreary at the best of times, but just before Christmas a few years ago, there were reasons for joy. Three women, all neighbours, were expecting children within seven weeks of each other. But in the lives of tomato workers, there is a fine line between hope and tragedy.

The first baby... was born with an extremely rare condition called tetra-amelia syndrome, which left him with neither arms nor legs.

About six weeks later, a few cabins away, Jesus Navarrete was born with Pierre Robin Sequence, a deformity of the lower jaw. As a result, his tongue was in constant danger of falling back into his throat, putting him at risk of choking to death. The baby had to be fed through a plastic tube.

Two days after Jesus was born, Maria Meza gave birth to Jorge. He had one ear, no nose, a cleft palate, one kidney, no anus, and no visible sexual organs. A couple hours later, following a detailed examination, the doctors determined that Jorge was in fact a girl. Her parents renamed her Violeta. Her birth defects were so severe that she survived for only three days.

In addition to living within one hundred yards of each other, Herrera, Maceda, and Meza had one other thing in common. They all worked for the same company, Ag-Mart Produce, Inc., and in the same vast tomato field.

From the rows of tomatoes where the women were working during the time they became pregnant, the view was not so cheery. A sign at the entry warned that the field had been sprayed by no fewer than thirty-one different chemicals during the growing season. Many of them were rated 'highly toxic,' and at least three, the herbicide metribuzin, the fungicide mancozeb, and the insecticide avermectin, are known to be 'developmental and reproductive toxins,' according to Pesticide Action Network. They are teratogenic, meaning they can cause birth defects.

If they are used, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates 'restricted-entry intervals' (REIs in the jargon of chemical agriculture), the time that must elapse between when pesticides are applied and when workers can go into the fields. In all three cases, the women said they were ordered to pick the fruit in violation of REI regulations.

Although regulations require that handlers of many of these pesticides use protective eyewear, chemical-resistant gloves, rubber aprons, and vapour respirators, the three pregnant women said they had not been warned of the possible dangers of being exposed to the chemicals. They wore no protective gear, unless you count their futile attempts to avoid inhalation by covering their mouths with bandanas.

more...The Ecologist

Burkina Faso, Ghana to cooperate on tomato marketing

The Upper East Region of Ghana and the Central Province of the Republic of Burkina Faso have agreed to enter into a tomato joint venture enterprise. The aim of the joint venture between the two countries is to help find a lasting solution to the problems confronting tomato farmers in both countries, especially in the area of marketing.

Ghanaian regional minister Mr. Woyongo said tomato was a major crop cultivated by a large number of farmers in both Burkina Faso and Ghana, and noted that Ghana imported a lot of tomato from Burkina Faso.
He said statistics from the Customs department indicated that during the 2008 to 2009 crop season, Ghana imported 6,562.43 metric tones of tomato from Burkina Faso.

He said the Northern Star Tomato Factory in the Upper East Region was now operating at full capacity, but was facing the problem of inadequate supply of raw materials. He expressed the hope that with the joint venture, the factory would be able to get adequate materials to operate and that would help solve the problem of marketing of tomato in the two countries.

He said plans were also far advanced by some Italian business groups with the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council to establish another tomato factory in Navrongo in the Upper East Region, which would purchase the produce from farmers of both countries.

Ghana Ministry of Agriculture

Nigeria loses 50% of its tomato harvest

by Tina A. Hassan

Post harvest loss is a common phenomenon to farmers in Nigeria. It is viewed as part of the farming process because no other option has been proffered to farmers on how to reduce post harvest losses especially among cultivators of vegetables, fruits and other perishables.

For example, tomato is a product that is in demand across markets in the country at all seasons but it is equally a highly perishable crop that spoils within the shortest period if it is not well preserved.

Addressing journalists at its 2010 Ministerial press briefing, the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Mohammed kaoje Abubakar said Nigeria imports processed tomato paste to the tune of 65,809 tons valued at N11.7 billion ( $77.167m) annually.

According to Abubakar, “Nigeria produces about 1.3 % of the world output of tomatoes annually but loses not less than 50 per cent of this due to lack of preservation. Unfortunately, Nigeria imports processed tomato paste.”

...The Daily Trust

Australian vegetables poisoned as police probe sabotage

Police in Australia are investigating the poisoning of seven million vegetable seedlings, including tomatoes, aubergines and melons.

Detectives believe a herbicide was injected into the irrigation system at a nursery in northern Queensland.

The Australian farm minister described the poisoning at a Queensland nursery - the fourth such incident in eight years - as "sabotage."

Farmers and analysts say the price of vegetables will increase as a result.

The cost of the damage is estimated at AUS $23.5m (£19.7m; $20.3m US), said Denise Kreymborg of the regional growers' association. Grudge or vandalism?

Police are investigating possible links to the other poisonings in the region, which produces most of Australia's vegetables during the winter months.

"It could be a grudge, it could be competition-based... or it could be an act of vandalism," said Dave Miles, the acting police inspector for Townsville, near Cairns.

"I don't think it's just a local vandal," Ms Kreymborg said, according to the Associated Press. "Obviously they knew what they were doing, as it was a pretty technical act they've done. But we don't want to contaminate the investigation by pointing fingers."

Workers at the Supa Seedlings nursery, which supplies around 30 regional growers, noticed plants wilting from 20 June.

The bulk of the poisoned plants - around four million - were tomato seedlings. Some of them had already been transplanted on farms.

Around 350 hectares of production land, with the capacity to grow about 200 tonnes of fresh produce, have been affected.

The vegetables were destined for sale across Australia and for export to New Zealand and the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

Prices in all three countries are likely to spike over the next few months until produce from other regions comes onto the market, reports say.

BBC

Gene leads to longer shelf life for tomatoes, possibly other fruits

by Brian Wallheimer

A Purdue University researcher has found a sort of fountain of youth for tomatoes that extends their shelf life by about a week.

Avtar Handa, a professor of horticulture, found that adding a yeast gene increases production of a compound that slows aging and delays microbial decay in tomatoes. Handa said the results, published in the early online version of The Plant Journal, likely would transfer to most fruits.

"We can inhibit the aging of plants and extend the shelf life of fruits by an additional week for tomatoes," Handa said. "This is basic fundamental knowledge that can be applied to other fruits."

The organic compound spermidine is a polyamine and is found in all living cells. Polyamines' functions aren't yet fully understood. Handa and Autar Mattoo, a research plant physiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and collaborator in the research, had shown earlier that polyamines such as spermidine and spermine enhance nutritional and processing quality of tomato fruits.

"At least a few hundred genes are influenced by polyamines, maybe more," Mattoo said. "We see that spermidine is important in reducing aging. It will be interesting to discover what other roles it can have."

Savithri Nambeesan, who was a graduate student in Handa's laboratory, introduced the yeast spermidine synthase gene, which led to increased production of spermidine in the tomatoes. Fully ripe tomatoes from those plants lasted about eight days longer before showing signs of shriveling compared with non-transgenic plants. Decay and rot symptoms associated with fungi were delayed by about three days.

"It increased the quality of the fruit," Handa said. "If a tomato goes to market, people won't buy it if it has started to shrivel. If we can stop that wrinkling, we can extend the market time of the fruit."

Mattoo said the finding could have implications for areas that don't often get fresh fruit.

"Shelf life is a major problem for any produce in the world, especially in countries such as in Southeast Asia and Africa that cannot afford controlled-environment storage," Mattoo said.

Handa said tomato growers and possibly other fruit growers could use the finding soon if they wanted through either transgenic plants or natural breeding methods.

"We can add this gene to the tomatoes or look at natural variation and select the cultivars that already have a high level of this gene's expression," Handa said.

Handa and Mattoo will continue to study polyamines to discover how they control biological functions in fruits.

The US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund, the USDA Initiative for Future Agricultural Food Systems, and the Purdue Research Foundation funded the research.

PhysOrg

Tomato gene impacts taste, yield

by Marlene Cimons

American and Israeli researchers have discovered a gene that prompts hybrid tomatoes into producing exceptionally large yields, and with a surprisingly sweet taste.

“This is the first concrete example of a mutant hybrid in a flowering gene that is giving this dramatic increase in yield,’’ says Zach Lippman, one of the scientists who identified the gene.

Potentially, the newly found gene could have a significant impact both on the billion dollar tomato industry, as well as on agricultural practices engineered to get the most yield from other flowering crops, according to Lippman, an assistant professor in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

“There’s a lot of amazing biology just in understanding what this gene is doing,’’ Lippman said. “Usually, when you get more yield, you get less sugar. The fact that there is more sugar tells you there is something going on in the leaves, where the sugar is made. They are maintaining a longer period of youth. In some respects, these plants experience a fountain of youth--that’s why you see these dramatic effects.’’

The research team, which also included Israeli scientists Uri Krieger and Dani Zamir of Hebrew University, set out to hunt for genes that boost hybrid vigor, a breeding principle that enhanced hybrid corn and rice production a century ago. Hybrid vigor, also known as heterosis, involves intercrossing two varieties of plants to produce more vigorous offspring with higher yields.

Naturalist Charles Darwin first observed heterosis in 1876, a process that 30 years later received renewed interest from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory corn geneticist George Shull, whose studies suggested that harmful, vigor-killing gene mutations that accumulate naturally in every generation are exposed by inbreeding, but hidden by crossbreeding.

“But there is still no consensus as to what causes heterosis,” Lippman said. “Another theory for heterosis, supported by our discovery, postulates that improved vigor stems from only a single gene, an effect called “superdominance” or “overdominance.”

To find overdominant genes, the team combed through a vast tomato “mutant library,” a collection of 5,000 plants, each of which has a single mutation in a single gene that causes defects in various aspects of tomato growth, such as fruit size, leaf shape, etc. Selecting a diverse set of mutant plants, most of which produced low yield, the team crossed each mutant with its normal counterpart, searching for hybrids with improved yield.

“We have this large collection of mutants in tomatoes, so I proposed we cherry-pick 50 mutants, representing all different categories of mutant effects on plants, and let’s see if we take those mutants and cross them back to the non-mutant (normal) parents, whether we see these hybrid vigor effects,’’ Lippman explained. “Let’s see if we can find a case of a single mutant gene that gives you mutant vigor.’’

They found several. “The one we published was the strongest, but there were others,’’ he said.

The most dramatic example increased yield by 60 percent. This hybrid, the team found, produced greater yields because there was one normal copy and one mutated copy of a single gene that produces a protein called florigen. This protein, first discovered about five years ago, tells plants when to stop making leaves and start making flowers, which in turn produce fruit.

In plants such as tomatoes, flowering, which translates into yield, is controlled by a delicate balance between the florigen protein, which promotes flowering, and another related protein, that delays flowering. A mutation in only one copy of the florigen gene causes the hybrid to produce more flowers in less time--the key to improved yield.

“It’s the Goldilocks concept,” Lippman said. “What we find is that to maximize yield, you can’t have too much or too little florigen. A mutation in one copy of the gene results in the exact dose of florigen required to cause heterosis.”

The scientists found the gene’s heterosis effect in different varieties of tomatoes, and in plants grown in different climate and soil conditions, both in Israel and in New York at CSHL and the Cornell Horticultural Experiment Station at Riverhead, N.Y.

The researchers hope to find out whether genes related to florigen in other crops also can cause heterosis and improve yield. “Mutant plants are usually thrown away because of the notion that mutations would have negative effects on growth,” Lippman said. “Our results indicate that breeding with hybrid mutations could prove to be a powerful new way to increase yields, not only in tomato, but all crops.”

He added: “Usually, I am reserved and conservative about what biology means for the real world. But this is the first time I feel extremely comfortable saying that this has great potential, not just for tomato yield, but in other flowering crops. We would love this to be put into trials, and ultimately come to market.’’

US News & World Report

Rain showers slash tomato harvest in South Africa's Limpopo province

by Chester Makana


Tomato farmers in South Africa's Limpopo province say they have lost between R10million and R50million as heavy rains continue to wreak havoc on their crops.

Tomato Growers Association chairperson Walter Moketle said on May 4 that most of the tomatoes had failed to survive the hail, rain and cold showers as they were sensitive to excessive water.

“We are dealing with water that we need for the day-to- day running of our farming,” Moketle said.

Farmers were initially relieved “but we are now faced with losses that have become too much.”

Moketle said a study had shown that more than three- quarters of the tomato crop would not make it to market.

The tomato farmers currently supply countries like Botswana and Mozambique and companies like Tiger Brands. According to the association, few farmers will manage to harvest their crops. Experts have warned that some crops may experience difficulties as the rate of climate change increases.

Moketle said seasonal workers, who were hired during harvesting, would also suffer losses. 

Joe Gondo of the National African Farmers Union said a shortage and possible price increases could occur.

Sowetan

Faced with marketing dilemna, some Ghanaian tomato farmers resort to suicide