Nokuthula Mabuza
Durban - South African market traders, street vendors and farmers have raised concerns over the swift price increase of tomatoes.
The sudden increase is reportedly linked to the shortage of good quality tomatoes in the country, following heavy rainfall in January and February that damaged most tomato crops. Due to the shortage, the price of tomatoes has increased from about R10 per kilogram in December 2020, to around R39.99 per kilogram in April.
Verushka Memdutt, an activist supporting the cause of fresh produce street vendors for almost 30 years in KwaZulu-Natal, said: “The increase has affected the sales and profits of vendors, and customers are complaining that the price is too high. But there is nothing that can be done."
Tony Virjamund, of Sunrise Fruit and Veg, in Phoenix, said: “We used to pay around R25 for 5kg of tomatoes from the market. We are now paying R100 or more for the same weight. Most of these tomatoes are not even good quality so, combined with the price hike, it's now difficult to sell them. We are complaining and the customers are complaining.”
Clive Garret, the marketing manager at ZZ2, which supplies consumers with tomatoes throughout the year, said the prices were measured by supply and demand. If the supply was low, the price would increase.
Garret said that the country's tomato farmers were impacted by unpreventable factors of weather conditions.
“The farmers were hit hard by the excessive rain at the beginning of the year. As a result, the crops were badly destroyed, resulting in the shortage of tomatoes, and prices doubling normal market prices.”
He said they were grateful for the subsequent recent rain, which brought back hope for the newly-planted crops to grow quicker.
However, according to Ethel Zulu, of Bee Tree Farm, having few tomato farmers was another reason for the shortage.
“The country relies on a few farmers that are growing tomatoes on a commercial level. Hence, when there is a disaster, the consumers are forced to pay the price, which is unfair. Had there been more tomatoes farmers, the heavy rain disaster would have been managed better.”
Zulu said they experienced damages during production and the harvesting cycle was reduced. This resulted in a low yield and a reduced income.
“The purpose of our farming operation is to contribute towards the food security in the country. We would not be proud to see the majority of our people having issues of accessing the food because of lack of accessibility, availability and affordability.
“The majority of consumers are now resorting to canned tomatoes instead of enjoying their locally fresh produced tomatoes. It is important that the government, farmers, and the market reach an agreement when addressing the hiking price of tomatoes, and always protect consumers.”
She said that, with the winter season approaching, it would be difficult to predict when tomatoes will go back to their normal price, unless the government intervened.
Zulu said tomatoes were summer crops. She said it took eight weeks to grow seedlings and 90 days before they are harvested.
“Tomatoes are mostly planted in open fields, which would lead to a higher risk of crop damage. However, they could be produced all year round, through tunnels with heating systems.”
Babes Naidoo, a food cook influencer on social media, said the shortage of fresh tomatoes had affected most of her family's favourite dishes.
She said her family enjoyed pasta, with a tomato base, as well as chutneys.
“I prefer using fresh tomatoes over canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Almost every Indian household uses a lot of tomatoes for chutneys and fish curries. Now it's difficult for some households to prepare these meals because the prices have increased by so much."
The Post