Vital Nduwimana hated how many tomatoes he lost every season. For years, his tomatoes started rotting just three or four days after harvest. He felt frustrated.

Mr. Nduwimana explains: “I was not able to sell all my tomatoes; I lost almost half of my production. Worse still, I would sell at a low price in the market. So in 2015, I thought that maybe I should find a tomato conservation technique.”

Mr. Nduwimana grows tomatoes in eastern Burundi, on Kabuyenge hill, five kilometres from the Tanzanian border.

In eastern Burundi, tomatoes are abundant during the harvest months of August and September. But growers find it difficult to keep tomatoes for later sale, which leads to a large number of tomatoes rotting.

Mr. Nduwimana tried several techniques to solve his problem. He tried storing his tomatoes in water, in clay, underground, in cartons, and even in sand. He tried everything that came to his mind—but without success.

Then one day, he noticed that the tomatoes he had kept next to his banana trees were not rotten. Then he noticed the ash at the foot of the banana trees.

He decided to try keeping his tomatoes in ash and found that this was more effective than any of the other techniques he had tried.

He uses ash from a chimney, and sifts it three or four times to remove large residues, debris, and other foreign materials. Then, he dumps the ash into a paper carton and places the tomatoes in the carton. With this technique, Mr. Nduwimana manages to safely store his tomatoes for many months.

He explains: “I keep my tomatoes in the ash for a period of five to six months, so I can sell them in December, January, or February when the price has risen—since tomatoes are rare and become expensive during this period.“

Jean Nivyabandi is an agronomist. He says using ash has no negative effect on the tomatoes, which can be consumed safely. He explains, “There is no risk of tomato toxicity after storage in ash.”

Nevertheless, the agronomist wants the Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Burundi to conduct tests to scientifically validate Mr. Nduwimana’s technique.

Meanwhile, other tomato growers in Cibitoke—the main tomato-producing region of Burundi— have been inspired to try the techniques themselves.

Judith Bizmana also grows tomatoes in Cibitoke. She says: “I can normally harvest between 550 and 600 kilograms of tomatoes per season. But … I would lose nearly half of my production. Today, I rub my hands and smile all the time. Thanks to Mr. Nduwimana’s technique, I can keep my tomatoes [and] wait for the price to rise in the market, knowing that very few of them will rot.”

Meanwhile, the innovative farmer has changed his life. Mr. Nduwimana says: “With the income from the sale of tomatoes, I opened a small restaurant and I am a permanent supplier of tomatoes to restaurants in the provincial capital. I supply the whole market, and I have created jobs, too. My whole life has changed. In the future, I plan to buy a truck to transport my tomatoes.”

Source: http://wire.farmradio.fm/en/farmer-stories/2016/11/burundi-farmer-finds-new-technique-for-preserving-tomatoes-15454

This is great.
hope it works in our enviroment

I will give it a trial.HP it will work

Spreading my mat here till it gets to promise land

overall90:
This is great. hope it works in our enviroment

I think it should

Native intelligence.

impressive.

Wow

Nice innovation

This seems to be the very first good news i'll be hearing from Burundi in a while.

It's actually a year of Surprises.

This is thinking out of the box

Ok

Nice one, I hope our farmers catch on to this trend.

When the world is busy doing critical thinking how how to better our world, Nigerians are here busy themselves with churches and one rccg people













Meanwhile kudos to this gallant farmer

See everybody giving bleeps cos it's tomatoes talk.. Bloooodclaaaat hungry lions

Most of the greatest invention were stumbled on.Kudos to him.

This technology is not new... many undergraduate students have researched on this.. The end point is always ending such research on library shelves or dust bin... God help us

Op thank you very much for this information. I needed it. I really love fresh tomatoes in my Indomie . I will buy and store

I will definitely give this a trial. Superb idea with less or no cost to preserve tomatoes.

Low cost. Effective method.

This is an example of what the never give up nor give in mind can result to... Success