Course Overview
Why 6 months? One tomato crop runs about 5 months from nursery sowing to final pick — so this program walks a complete cycle and leaves you a month to plan the next one. Tomatoes are the highest-turnover, highest-risk vegetable in Africa: they can earn more per hectare than maize earns in three seasons, or lose everything to blight in ten days. This course is built to put you on the profitable side of that line.
Structure: 6 monthly modules → lessons → practical assignments → a 10-question quiz each month → final business project.
How to study (hybrid): Online — modules on your phone, sessions in the Study Diary, questions to the rAs AI assistant. Offline — save this page (Print → Save as PDF); the practicals happen in the nursery bed and among the stakes.
⚠️ Read first: the three rules that protect your investment
- Late blight can destroy a field in 7–10 days. In wet warm weather it is not treated after it appears — it is PREVENTED on a spray/scout calendar. Month 4 is the difference between a harvest and a total loss.
- Respect every pesticide's PRE-HARVEST INTERVAL. Tomatoes are picked every few days — spraying today and picking tomorrow poisons your customers and destroys your business. Gloves, label doses, and the PHI, always.
- Never plant tomatoes where tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplant grew in the last 3 years — they share the soil diseases (bacterial wilt, nematodes) that end farms.
MONTH 1 — Market Planning, Varieties & Site ▾
Lesson 1.1 — Tomato economics: timing is the crop
- Tomato prices swing 3–10× across a year. Everyone plants for the same easy season and floods the market; the money is made by whoever has fruit in the gap months — usually those able to irrigate in the dry season or protect a crop in the wet one.
- Yield reality: unmanaged open-field crops give 10–20 t/ha; well-run staked, fed and protected crops give 40–80 t/ha; greenhouse hybrids exceed 100 t/ha. Same land, same water.
- Before anything else, pick your target HARVEST WINDOW, then count backwards: transplant date, nursery sowing date, input purchase date.
Lesson 1.2 — Choosing varieties
| Type | Habit | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Determinate | Grows to a set size, fruits in a concentrated flush | Processing, bulk market sales, short seasons; less staking |
| Indeterminate | Keeps growing and fruiting for months | Fresh market, staked/greenhouse production, long harvest income |
- Choose for RESISTANCE, not just yield: look for varieties/hybrids listed as resistant to bacterial wilt, fusarium, nematodes and TYLCV (tomato yellow leaf curl virus) where those are present locally — extension officers and seed dealers know your area's enemies.
- Fresh-market types want firm, thick-walled fruit that survives transport; processing types want high solids. Ask your buyers what they buy before choosing seed.
- Hybrid seed costs much more but typically returns it in yield and disease tolerance — a serious tomato grower buys hybrid, certified, dated seed.
Lesson 1.3 — Site and rotation
- Full sun, deep well-drained soil, pH 6.0–6.8, and a water source you can rely on for 4+ months (a tomato crop at peak drinks 4–6 mm/day — roughly 40–60 m³/ha daily).
- Rotation is a disease decision, not a tradition: 3+ years between solanaceous crops (tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant, tobacco). Break the rule and bacterial wilt eventually ends your tomato growing on that land.
- Avoid low frost pockets and windy exposed ridges; a windbreak protects flowers and reduces disease spread.
Lesson 1.4 — Open field vs protected
- Open field: cheapest, exposed to rain-driven blight and pests — best in the dry season with irrigation.
- Simple rain shelter / tunnel (poles + clear plastic roof): drastically cuts blight by keeping leaves dry — often the single best investment a small tomato grower can make.
- Greenhouse: highest yields and prices, high capital and skill — plan it as year 2–3, not year 1.
🛠️ Practical assignments (Month 1): (1) Chart your local tomato price by month for the past year (traders and market records) and choose your harvest window. (2) Confirm your rotation history for the intended plot — 3-year check, written. (3) Get 3 seed quotes for a resistant variety matching your market, with the certification date checked.
📹 VIDEO 1: "Why tomatoes make and break farmers" (13 min) — price seasons, yield gaps, and the shelter that saves crops.
QUIZ 1 — Planning
Q1. How much do tomato prices swing across a year?
Show answer
Commonly 3–10× — profit follows whoever harvests in the gap months.
Q2. Yield range from unmanaged to well-run open field?
Show answer
10–20 t/ha unmanaged vs 40–80 t/ha well-managed on the same land.
Q3. Determinate vs indeterminate?
Show answer
Determinate fruits in one concentrated flush (bulk/processing); indeterminate keeps producing for months (fresh market, staked).
Q4. The rotation rule and its reason?
Show answer
3+ years between tomato/potato/pepper/eggplant — they share soil diseases like bacterial wilt and nematodes.
Q5. Ideal soil pH?
Show answer
6.0–6.8, deep and well-drained.
Q6. Peak crop water demand?
Show answer
About 4–6 mm/day — roughly 40–60 m³ per hectare per day.
Q7. Why buy for resistance rather than yield alone?
Show answer
A high-yield variety that dies of wilt or virus yields nothing — resistance is yield insurance.
Q8. The best-value protection upgrade for a small grower?
Show answer
A simple rain shelter/tunnel keeping leaves dry — it dramatically cuts blight risk.
Q9. How is the planting date decided?
Show answer
Backwards from the chosen harvest window: harvest → transplant → nursery sowing → input purchase.
Q10. What must you ask buyers before choosing seed?
Show answer
Which fruit type they buy — firm thick-walled fresh-market fruit vs high-solids processing types.
MONTH 2 — Nursery: Growing Perfect Seedlings ▾
Lesson 2.1 — Why the nursery decides the crop
- A weak, leggy, or diseased seedling never becomes a good plant — it just occupies expensive land for four months. The nursery is 4 weeks of care that determines 4 months of income.
- Target seedling at transplant: 4–6 true leaves, 12–15 cm tall, pencil-thick stem, dark green, roots filling the tray cell, 25–35 days old.
Lesson 2.2 — Building the nursery
- Raised bed (1 m wide, 15–20 cm high) or seedling trays. Trays win: no transplant shock, no soil-borne disease, uniform seedlings.
- Media: sterilised soil + compost + river sand (roughly 2:1:1), or bought coco-peat/seedling mix. Sterilise homemade media by solarising under clear plastic 4–6 weeks or drenching with boiling water — this kills the damping-off fungi that flatten nurseries.
- Shade net or grass shade (about 40–50%) and an insect-net surround: whiteflies infect seedlings with TYLCV virus in the nursery, and the plant never recovers.
- Seed rate: 100–150 g/ha of hybrid seed produces the ~25,000–30,000 seedlings a hectare needs, plus spares.
Lesson 2.3 — Nursery management week by week
- Sow 0.5–1 cm deep, water with a fine rose twice daily (mornings and late afternoons), never flooding — wet stagnant media = damping off.
- Week 2: thin to one seedling per cell/station; begin removing shade gradually.
- Week 3–4 hardening off: reduce watering slightly and expose to full sun for 5–7 days before transplanting — hardened seedlings survive field shock; pampered ones wilt and die.
- Cull ruthlessly: any stunted, curled, yellow or spotted seedling is thrown away, not planted. One diseased seedling can seed the whole field.
Lesson 2.4 — Preparing the field while seedlings grow
- Plough/dig deep, incorporate 20–30 t/ha compost or well-rotted manure (tomatoes are heavy feeders that reward organic matter with disease resilience).
- Mark rows and stations: 90–100 cm between rows, 40–50 cm in-row (≈ 22,000–28,000 plants/ha) for staked indeterminate; slightly closer for determinate.
- Apply basal fertiliser (a compound with good phosphorus, e.g. locally sold vegetable/basal compound) at 400–600 kg/ha placed in the planting stations or bands, covered with soil.
- Where nematodes or wilt have appeared before, consider raised beds and mulching — and prefer grafted or resistant material where available.
✅ Iron-Clad Price Check: seed, trays/media, shade and insect net — 3 quotes each. Insect netting for the nursery costs little and prevents the virus that has no cure.
🛠️ Practical assignments (Month 2): (1) Build the nursery with sterilised media, shade and insect netting; sow your seed and log the date. (2) Prepare and mark the field to your spacing with basal fertiliser applied. (3) Run the 5–7 day hardening-off and photograph a seedling against the target spec.
📹 VIDEO 2: "Four weeks that decide four months" (14 min) — media sterilising, insect-net nursery, hardening off, ruthless culling.
QUIZ 2 — Nursery
Q1. Target seedling spec at transplant?
Show answer
4–6 true leaves, 12–15 cm tall, pencil-thick stem, dark green, 25–35 days old.
Q2. Why sterilise nursery media?
Show answer
To kill damping-off fungi and soil-borne pathogens that wipe out seedbeds.
Q3. What does the insect net prevent?
Show answer
Whiteflies transmitting TYLCV virus — an incurable infection carried straight into the field.
Q4. What is hardening off and why?
Show answer
5–7 days of reduced water and full sun before transplanting — it prepares seedlings to survive field shock.
Q5. Field spacing for staked indeterminate tomatoes?
Show answer
90–100 cm rows × 40–50 cm in-row ≈ 22,000–28,000 plants/ha.
Q6. Compost/manure rate for tomatoes?
Show answer
20–30 t/ha of well-rotted material — they're heavy feeders and organic matter buys disease resilience.
Q7. Seed quantity per hectare?
Show answer
About 100–150 g of hybrid seed for 25,000–30,000 seedlings plus spares.
Q8. Why cull weak seedlings instead of planting them?
Show answer
They never become productive plants and can carry disease into the whole field.
Q9. Watering regime in the nursery?
Show answer
Fine rose twice daily (morning/late afternoon), never waterlogged — stagnant wet media causes damping off.
Q10. Basal fertiliser rate and placement?
Show answer
400–600 kg/ha of a phosphorus-rich compound, banded or in stations and covered.
MONTH 3 — Transplanting, Water & Feeding ▾
Lesson 3.1 — Transplanting day
- Transplant in the cool of late afternoon or on a cloudy day; water the nursery an hour before lifting so root balls hold together.
- Plant DEEPER than the seedling stood — tomatoes root from buried stem, giving a stronger anchor and drought resistance (a unique tomato advantage; bury leggy seedlings to their first leaves).
- Firm soil around the root ball and water each plant immediately — a starter drench of dilute soluble fertiliser or compost tea speeds establishment.
- Fill any deaths within the first week; later gap-fills never catch up.
Lesson 3.2 — Irrigation: the make-or-break routine
- Tomatoes want CONSISTENT moisture. Irregular watering — drying out then flooding — causes blossom-end rot (black leathery base) and fruit cracking, the two most common quality complaints.
- Water at the base, never overhead: wet leaves are what blight needs. Drip irrigation is the gold standard; furrow or watering-can-at-the-base is the affordable version.
- Schedule guide: every 2–3 days on light soils, 4–5 on heavy, adjusted by weather; peak demand comes at fruit set and fruit fill.
- Mulch (grass, straw, dry leaves) after establishment: conserves water, suppresses weeds, and stops soil splashing disease spores onto leaves — a triple win.
Lesson 3.3 — Feeding the crop
| Stage | Feed focus | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Establishment (wk 1–2) | Phosphorus (roots) | Basal already applied; starter drench |
| Vegetative (wk 3–5) | Nitrogen | First top dressing ~100–150 kg/ha AN/urea equivalent |
| Flowering & fruit set | Balanced + calcium | Reduce heavy N; calcium prevents blossom-end rot |
| Fruit fill / harvest | Potassium | Potassium drives size, colour, sugar and shelf life |
- Split fertiliser into small frequent doses (fertigation where drip exists) — one big dump leaches away and burns roots.
Lesson 3.4 — Staking, pruning and training
- Stake or trellis every indeterminate plant within 2–3 weeks of transplanting: fruit off the ground means less rot, less disease, cleaner fruit and easier spraying and picking. Unstaked tomatoes routinely lose 30%+ of fruit to soil rot.
- Options: individual 1.5–2 m stakes, the Florida weave (twine woven between posts along the row — cheap and fast), or overhead trellis strings in tunnels.
- Pruning indeterminates: remove side shoots ("suckers") in leaf axils weekly, keeping 1–2 main stems; remove lower leaves touching soil. Prune in DRY conditions with clean hands/tools — every wound is a disease door.
- Determinates: don't prune hard — their yield sits on those branches.
🛠️ Practical assignments (Month 3): (1) Transplant to spacing, deep-planted, with starter drench; log survival at day 7 and gap-fill. (2) Install staking/Florida weave and mulch the beds. (3) Build your irrigation and split-fertiliser calendar on paper and start ticking it off.
📹 VIDEO 3: "Deep planting, Florida weave and the sucker rule" (15 min).
QUIZ 3 — Establishment
Q1. Why plant tomato seedlings deeper than they grew?
Show answer
Buried stem produces extra roots — stronger anchorage and drought resistance.
Q2. What causes blossom-end rot and cracking?
Show answer
Irregular moisture (dry then flood) plus calcium availability problems.
Q3. Why never irrigate overhead?
Show answer
Wet leaves are exactly what blight and leaf diseases need — water at the base.
Q4. Three benefits of mulching?
Show answer
Conserves water, suppresses weeds, and stops soil splash carrying disease spores onto leaves.
Q5. Which nutrient dominates at fruit fill?
Show answer
Potassium — it drives size, colour, sugar and shelf life.
Q6. Why split fertiliser doses?
Show answer
Small frequent feeding avoids leaching and root burn and matches crop demand.
Q7. Yield cost of not staking?
Show answer
Commonly 30%+ of fruit lost to soil rot and disease, plus harder spraying and picking.
Q8. What is the Florida weave?
Show answer
Twine woven between row posts on both sides of the plants — a fast cheap trellis.
Q9. Sucker pruning rule for indeterminates?
Show answer
Remove axil side shoots weekly keeping 1–2 main stems — in dry conditions with clean hands/tools.
Q10. Should determinates be pruned hard?
Show answer
No — their concentrated yield sits on those branches.
MONTH 4 — Disease War: Blight, Wilt & Virus ▾
Lesson 4.1 — Late blight: the field killer
- Signs: greasy dark-green to brown patches on leaves (often with a pale halo), white fuzz under leaves in humid mornings, brown-black stem lesions, and hard brown blotches on fruit. Spreads with cool wet nights and warm humid days.
- Speed: a healthy field can be destroyed in 7–10 days once conditions favour it — this is why the response is PREVENTIVE.
- The protective programme: begin protectant fungicide sprays (e.g. copper- or mancozeb-type registered protectants) on a 7–10 day cycle from early growth in blight seasons, tightening to 5–7 days in wet weather; alternate chemical families to prevent resistance; systemic products are for when pressure spikes, per extension advice and label.
- Cultural weapons that cut spray needs: rain shelter, wide spacing/airflow, base irrigation, mulch, staking, removing lower leaves, and destroying (burning/burying) infected material far from the field.
Lesson 4.2 — Early blight and leaf spots
- Early blight: brown spots with concentric "target" rings on older leaves, spreading upward — worse on hungry, stressed crops. Same protectant programme; keep nitrogen and water steady.
- Septoria/bacterial spot: many small spots, leaf yellowing and drop, spotted fruit. Copper-based products help bacterial spot; sanitation and rotation matter more.
Lesson 4.3 — Wilts and the soil enemies
- Bacterial wilt: a plant wilts and dies while leaves stay GREEN; cut the stem and suspend it in clear water — milky white threads streaming out confirm it. No cure. Remove and destroy plants with the surrounding soil, don't irrigate from that patch downhill, and rotate out of solanaceous crops for years. Resistant/grafted material is the long-term answer.
- Fusarium/verticillium wilt: yellowing and wilting often on ONE side of the plant, brown discolouration inside the stem — resistant varieties and rotation.
- Root-knot nematodes: stunted plants that wilt in the sun; lift a root and find knotted galls. Rotate with marigold or grasses, add organic matter, and use resistant varieties.
Lesson 4.4 — Viruses and their carriers
- TYLCV and friends: upward-curling, small, yellowed leaves, stunted plants, no fruit set — carried by WHITEFLIES. There is no cure; you control the vector and the entry: netted nurseries, resistant varieties, yellow sticky traps, prompt removal of infected plants, and weed control (weeds host both virus and whitefly).
- Handling hygiene: tobacco users must wash hands with soap before touching tomatoes — tobacco mosaic virus transfers from cigarettes to plants.
Lesson 4.5 — Spray discipline
- Calibrate the sprayer (know your litres per hectare), spray in still cool conditions, cover leaf UNDERSIDES, and wear full protective clothing.
- Rotate chemical groups; never mix products without knowing compatibility; keep a spray diary — product, dose, date, PHI — which is also what commercial buyers and exporters demand.
- Observe PHI before every pick. Fruit picked inside the interval must not be sold.
🛠️ Practical assignments (Month 4): (1) Start the spray diary and run a preventive protectant programme with alternating groups. (2) Scout twice weekly, photographing and identifying every symptom you find against Lessons 4.1–4.4. (3) Practise the bacterial-wilt stem-in-water test on any suspicious plant.
📹 VIDEO 4: "Ten days to lose everything" (16 min) — blight identification, the preventive calendar, the wilt water test, whitefly control.
QUIZ 4 — Diseases
Q1. How fast can late blight destroy a crop?
Show answer
7–10 days in favourable weather — which is why control must be preventive.
Q2. Late blight leaf signs?
Show answer
Greasy dark patches with pale halos and white fuzz beneath leaves in humid mornings.
Q3. Protectant spray interval in wet weather?
Show answer
Tighten from 7–10 days to 5–7 days, alternating chemical families.
Q4. Early blight's signature?
Show answer
Concentric "target" rings on older lower leaves, worsening on stressed crops.
Q5. The bacterial wilt field test?
Show answer
Suspend a cut stem in clear water — milky white bacterial threads stream out.
Q6. Distinguishing bacterial wilt from drought wilt?
Show answer
Bacterial wilt kills the plant while its leaves stay green.
Q7. How are root-knot nematodes diagnosed and managed?
Show answer
Galls/knots on lifted roots; managed by rotation (marigold/grasses), organic matter and resistant varieties.
Q8. Who carries TYLCV and what stops it?
Show answer
Whiteflies — stopped by netted nurseries, resistant varieties, sticky traps, weed control and roguing.
Q9. Why must smokers wash hands before handling tomatoes?
Show answer
Tobacco mosaic virus transfers from tobacco products to plants.
Q10. Three items every spray diary entry needs?
Show answer
Product, dose/date, and the pre-harvest interval — required by serious buyers too.
MONTH 5 — Pests, Harvest & Post-Harvest ▾
Lesson 5.1 — The pest gallery
| Pest | Signs | Management |
|---|---|---|
| Tuta absoluta (leaf miner moth) | Blotchy leaf mines, tunnels in fruit | Pheromone traps, sanitation (destroy infested material), rotate registered insecticides, netting |
| Whitefly | Clouds of tiny white flies, sooty mould, virus spread | Yellow sticky traps, soap/neem sprays, resistant varieties, weed control |
| Aphids | Curled shoots, sticky honeydew | Soap/neem, encourage ladybirds, avoid excess nitrogen |
| Red spider mite | Fine webbing, stippled bronzed leaves in hot dry weather | Raise humidity, miticides (rotate), remove heavily infested leaves |
| Bollworm/fruitworm | Round holes bored into fruit | Scout flowers/young fruit, timely registered sprays, hand-picking on small plots |
| Nematodes / cutworms | Galled roots / seedlings cut at base | Rotation and organic matter / collar protection and clean weeding |
- Scout twice weekly on a W-walk, checking undersides of leaves and inside flowers; treat on thresholds, not on fear — over-spraying kills the predators that were working for free.
Lesson 5.2 — Harvesting
- Harvest stages: green-mature (long transport), breaker/turning (the commercial fresh-market standard), pink, and full red (local same-day sale or processing).
- Pick every 2–3 days in the peak — fruit left ripening on the plant slows new fruit set and invites pests.
- Pick in the COOL of the morning after dew dries; twist gently with the calyx (small green cap) attached for better shelf life; never pull and tear.
- Yield expectation for a well-run staked crop: 3–5 kg per plant across the season → 40–80 t/ha at 22,000–28,000 plants.
Lesson 5.3 — Post-harvest handling (where money quietly disappears)
- Post-harvest losses of 30–50% are common in African tomato chains — nearly all avoidable: rough handling, sun exposure, deep containers, and delayed sale.
- Rules: shallow crates NOT sacks (sacked tomatoes crush and ferment), out of the sun immediately, ventilated shade, and grading by size and ripeness before sale.
- Grading pays: a graded, uniform crate consistently beats an ungraded one at the same market on the same day — buyers pay for predictability.
- Cool storage extends life: even a shaded, ventilated evaporative cooler (see the rAs Cold Storage course) buys days at peak season.
Lesson 5.4 — Processing the surplus
- When prices crash or fruit over-ripens, process instead of dumping: sun/solar-dried tomatoes, tomato paste/sauce and chilli-tomato relish all convert a glut into shelf-stable value (see the rAs Solar Drying and Food Processing courses).
- Even simple sorting-out of B-grade fruit for processing protects your A-grade price — never sell mixed quality.
🛠️ Practical assignments (Month 5): (1) Run twice-weekly pest scouting with a threshold-based spray decision log. (2) Harvest to the crate-and-shade protocol and grade one batch by size/ripeness. (3) Process 10 kg of B-grade fruit into a shelf-stable product and cost it.
📹 VIDEO 5: "Picking, grading and the sack that kills profit" (14 min).
QUIZ 5 — Pests & harvest
Q1. What damage does Tuta absoluta cause?
Show answer
Blotchy leaf mines and tunnels bored into fruit — managed with pheromone traps, sanitation and rotated insecticides.
Q2. When is the commercial fresh-market picking stage?
Show answer
Breaker/turning — colour just starting, for transport and shelf life.
Q3. Picking frequency at peak?
Show answer
Every 2–3 days — over-ripe fruit on the plant slows new fruit set.
Q4. Why keep the calyx attached?
Show answer
It improves shelf life and appearance; twist gently rather than tearing the fruit.
Q5. Expected yield per well-managed plant?
Show answer
3–5 kg across the season (40–80 t/ha).
Q6. Typical post-harvest loss and its main causes?
Show answer
30–50%, from rough handling, sacks, sun exposure and delayed sale.
Q7. Crates or sacks?
Show answer
Shallow crates always — sacks crush the bottom layers into fermenting loss.
Q8. Why does grading raise price?
Show answer
Buyers pay for predictable uniform quality — the same fruit graded outsells it ungraded.
Q9. What to do with a price crash or over-ripe glut?
Show answer
Process it — dried tomatoes, paste/sauce, relish — instead of dumping.
Q10. Why not spray on sight of any pest?
Show answer
Over-spraying kills natural predators and breeds resistance — treat on scouting thresholds.
MONTH 6 — Marketing, Economics & Your Business Plan ▾
Lesson 6.1 — Selling tomatoes without being robbed
- Channels: farm-gate traders (fast, lowest price and they set the terms), municipal markets (better price, your transport and time), supermarkets/hotels/schools (contracts requiring consistency, grading and often spray records), and street/vendor retail in crates (highest per-kg, most labour).
- The trader trap: selling an ungraded field-run crop at the gate during the glut is how growers work five months for nothing. Grade, know your cost per kg, and have a second buyer's number.
- Group marketing: three or four growers coordinating volume and staggering plantings can hold a supermarket contract that none could supply alone.
Lesson 6.2 — The worked economics (1 hectare, staked, irrigated)
| Item | Typical range (USD) |
|---|---|
| Hybrid seed (100–150 g) + nursery inputs | $150–350 |
| Manure/compost + basal + top dressings | $400–900 |
| Stakes/twine (or reusable trellis share) | $200–600 |
| Crop protection programme (season) | $250–700 |
| Irrigation running/share, crates, transport | $200–600 |
| Labour (nursery→harvest, or own costed) | $500–1,500 |
| Total cost/ha | $1,700–4,650 |
| Yield 40 t @ $0.20–0.60/kg (season dependent) | $8,000–24,000 (glut lows can fall far below) |
| Margin/ha in a normal-to-good market | Large — but price-window dependent |
- The honest reading: tomatoes have the highest upside and the highest variance in this whole category. A crop harvested into a glut at $0.08/kg loses money even at 40 t/ha. Your protection against that is the Month-1 harvest-window plan, grading, staggered plantings and a processing fallback — not luck.
Lesson 6.3 — Risk management for tomato growers
- Stagger plantings 2–3 weeks apart across a season instead of one big block — it spreads price risk, disease risk and labour peaks.
- Never plant your whole capital in one crop; keep the next cycle's input money out of the harvest gamble.
- Keep the spray diary and grading standards so that when a contract buyer appears, you already qualify.
Lesson 6.4 — Final project: your bankable business plan
- Assemble from your season: plot and rotation history, variety and market match, nursery-to-harvest calendar, irrigation and fertiliser programme, spray diary, yield and grade results, buyer list with prices by month, risk plan (blight, glut, water failure), and a 3-cycle expansion path (including the rain shelter).
- Submit with photos and records for your rAs certificate — this plan also qualifies you for input-credit and contract-farming schemes.
🛠️ Practical assignments (Month 6): (1) Sell through two different channels and compare net price per kg after transport and losses. (2) Compute your true cost per kg produced. (3) Complete and submit the bankable business plan with a staggered planting calendar for next season.
📹 VIDEO 6: "Cost per kilo" (14 min) — grading for price, channel comparison, the staggered planting calendar.
QUIZ 6 — Business
Q1. Why is the farm-gate trader the lowest-price channel?
Show answer
They set terms on ungraded field-run fruit and take the margin you could have earned by grading and delivering.
Q2. What single number must you know before negotiating?
Show answer
Your cost per kilogram produced.
Q3. How does staggered planting reduce risk?
Show answer
It spreads price, disease and labour risk across several harvest windows instead of one.
Q4. What lets small growers hold supermarket contracts?
Show answer
Group marketing — coordinated volume and staggered plantings across several farms.
Q5. What do contract buyers usually require besides fruit?
Show answer
Consistent grading and spray records (the diary from Month 4).
Q6. Why can 40 t/ha still lose money?
Show answer
If it harvests into a glut at very low prices — timing beats tonnage in tomatoes.
Q7. Name the four protections against price risk.
Show answer
Harvest-window planning, staggered plantings, grading for premium channels, and a processing fallback.
Q8. Why keep next cycle's input money separate?
Show answer
So one bad price window or blight event doesn't end the enterprise entirely.
Q9. Which infrastructure upgrade most changes the risk profile?
Show answer
A rain shelter/tunnel — it cuts blight losses and allows off-season production into high prices.
Q10. What does the final plan double as?
Show answer
Your rAs certificate project and an input-credit/contract-farming application.
💰 Startup budget (0.25 ha starter block)
| Item | Typical range (USD) |
|---|---|
| Seed + nursery (trays, media, shade & insect net) | $80–200 |
| Compost/manure + fertilisers | $120–250 |
| Stakes/twine | $60–160 |
| Crop protection (season) + sprayer | $100–250 |
| Irrigation (drip kit or cans/furrow) + crates | $120–450 |
| Total | $480–1,310 |
✅ Iron-Clad Price Check: seed, fertiliser and crop-protection products from 3 dealers — and buy only registered products in sealed labelled containers; counterfeit agrochemicals are common and cost you a whole crop.
📖 Glossary
- Determinate / indeterminate — bush-type single-flush vs continuously growing types.
- Hardening off — toughening seedlings before transplant.
- Sucker — the side shoot in a leaf axil, pruned on indeterminates.
- Florida weave — twine-and-post trellis system.
- Blossom-end rot — black leathery fruit base from moisture/calcium irregularity.
- Late blight — the fast-moving fungal-like disease that destroys fields.
- Bacterial wilt — soil disease killing green plants; water-test confirmed.
- TYLCV — whitefly-carried virus causing curled, stunted, fruitless plants.
- PHI — pre-harvest interval, days between spray and picking.
- Breaker stage — the just-turning colour stage for market picking.
📚 Resources
- FAO and World Vegetable Center tomato production guides
- Your extension office — locally resistant varieties, registered products, Tuta absoluta alerts
- rAs companion courses: Drip Irrigation · Greenhouse Farming · Solar Drying · Food Processing · Cold Storage · Bookkeeping
🎓 Enroll & earn your Tomato Farming certificate
Business Seed Record ($10) issued on completion of all module quizzes + the final project.