Glut of tomatoes and pumpkins on Praslin |02 September 2017

Tomatoes and pumpkins have glutted the market on Praslin lately

The Seychelles Agricultural Agency’s (SAA) office on Praslin has confirmed that currently there’s a surplus of tomatoes and pumpkins on the island.

Tomatoes and pumpkins are two favourite vegetables being produced by Praslin farmers. Among 125 farms on the second largest island of the country, 75% of them produce these two crops.

Tomatoes and pumpkins are in great demand among hotels, guest houses and take-away facilities on Praslin. However, since this month of August, producers of these two vegetables been having difficulties to sell their crops. The production of tomatoes and pumpkins has surpassed demand.  Farmers are trying every possibility to sell their products including trying to send some to Mahé. To note, two months ago one kilo of tomatoes was between R80 and R100. Currently the price is R25/kilo. As for pumpkins there has been a drop from R40/kilo to R20/kilo.

The SAA on Praslin is working in close collaboration with the farmers to come up with the best strategies to cope with such surpluses on the market. Strategies could be in the form of a diversification in production of various crops, taking into consideration the market demand, and agro-processing.