“this is the first time i've ever grown tomatoes that use chinese sodging techniques, and i didn't expect this high production.” on the edge of lake naivasha in kenya, in a greenhouse on a farm at the foot of the logonot dormant volcano, jonah kalanja was busy with his family harvesting tomatoes with smiles on his face. According to kalanja, he had been growing tomatoes since 2008, but with low yields and low incomes, he was also often concerned that tomatoes were threatened by pests, bad weather, etc。
Tomatoes are very important vegetables in kenya. In 2023, the area under cultivation reached 290,000 hectares, yielding more than 680,000 tons. In recent years, the country's tomato production has been threatened by diseases such as deadness, leaf moths and other pests, affected by factors such as a combination of re-emergence and climate change, which have resulted in a severe reduction in production and, in some cases, a loss of harvest。
China's mature marriage technology provides the preferred solution to the kenya tomato pest. In 2022, in order to address this problem, which seriously affects the lives and incomes of local farmers, the nanjing agricultural university of china and the university of eggton, kenya, decided to introduce and promote chinese tomato marriage technology, to implement the project “enabling rural youth through innovative horticultural solutions in the tomato value chain”, which was funded by the international fund for agricultural development at the end of 2023。
“through the introduction of the tomato graft technology, demonstration-point farmers are now growing tomato seedlings that are relatively resistant to disease and growth, with early, good quality, high yield and at least 50 per cent increase.” prof. Liu gao-jong, assistant expert, nanjing agricultural university, presented the technique of marriage as a commonly used technical tool in china, which is widely used in the cultivation of fruit and vegetables and fruit trees。
According to the project team member liu yutao, dean of china at the confucius college of the university of egton, the tomato marriage technique has been well promoted in nakuru county, kenya, on the basis of platforms such as the agricultural characteristic confucius college, which was established jointly by the university of nanjing and the university of egton, kenya, the joint laboratory for the biology of middle-kinn crop molecular “away” and the model village for agricultural development and poverty alleviation in central africa. Currently, the project has established 15 demonstration sites and conducted more than 10 technical trainings and demonstrations, in which more than 1,000 people participated. “seen the strong harvest of the demonstration households and the growing confidence of local farmers to grow tomatoes, the number of participants enrolled in the training is high.” liu yutao said。
"technology is practical and training works well." the local farmer, mary mwangi, said that she had learned fine crop management, such as controlling the humidity and temperature of greenhouses, and had now harvested three times and more tomatoes than once. "marrying tomatoes is much bigger and full, and every time i get a market, i get a higher price." mwangi was happy to say。
“a growing number of rural youth are benefiting.” according to julia mwangi, an agricultural officer in nakuru county, “chinese technology has increased farmers' confidence in fighting tomato pests and diseases, helping to restore local tomato cultivation and helping kenyan farmers to reduce poverty and enrich themselves”
“china's agricultural technology has helped kenya's tomato growers to increase yields.” joshua ogvino, an horticultural expert at the university of egton and a foreign director at confucius college, stated that the technology was expected to reduce the incidence of ailments from 90 per cent to less than 10 per cent, increase production from near zero harvests to 5,000 to 6,000 kg of acre production, and increase it by about 100,000 kenyan shillings per acre (one rmb equals approximately 18 kenyan shillings)。
“look at this basket of sunken tomato fruit and a long row of happy tomato plants, this year's revenues must be good.” kalanja says happyly。
