Tree tomatoes are also called tomarillo. The fruits are the size of a medium tomato, but oval in shape. Depending on the variety, the fruits are either red, yellow, dark-red, or black.
Growing tree tomatoes for commercial farming is one of the promising businesses today. But why so?
Overview
Primarily, the plants take a short time to mature and yield. By short time I mean within 9 months you can start making your first harvest!
Being perennial plants that live between 5 to 15 years, you can agree with me that their returns on investment comes much faster/earlier than most other horticultural products.
And that is the main reason why you should grow tomarillo. To reap the most benefits, you should concentrate on growing grafted tree tomatoes.
This is why.. Compared to the normal trees which start fruiting in 18 to 24 months, grafted tree tomatoes start yielding at around 9 months. So, this means within 1year to 1 year six months, you should be making good money.
Intercropping
The next good thing about tomarrilo, is that they can be intercropped with other crops like coffee. Tree tomatoes do well in coffee and tea zones among others. If you are a coffee farmer, you can grow tomarillo between the coffee rows. The advantage is that the coffee bushes protect the tree tomatoes from strong winds.
Normally, tree tomatoes have shallow roots, and also have soft stems. This makes them prone to strong winds, whereby huge losses may occur. To prevent this, wind breakers should be provided. Furthermore, during fruiting you should support the branches landed with fruits.
If well fed, tomarrilo can fetch you good money. Each tree can yield between 50kg to 85kg every 6 months. At the local markets, you can sell these fruits at Ksh 100 per kg. Suppose now, that you have 100 trees. You can do your math and find out what you can be getting every 6 months/ annually!
And mark you, there is still a huge demand for the fruits. The market is there..
Conclusion
Note that to reap these benefits, you have to select the best varieties for planting. Ensure that you grow grafted tree tomatoes. Apart from maturing faster, grafted tomarrilo are resistant to drought, pests and diseases, and give more yields.
Remember, an acre of land can accommodate up to 1200 tree tomatoes. If 100 trees can earn you good money, what if you manage to plant them in an acre of land or even half an acre? You can be faring well.
Nonetheless, tree tomatoes require enough water especially during fruiting season. But which plant does not?! As an affluent farmer, you should always choose the crop that will give you the highest returns in the least time possible.
This is just the beginning. We will explore more on tomarillo. #Stay woke. Keep #following. Remember to share.
