The 2014/15 agricultural crop tomato for industrial use will not be enough to meet local demand, which will face a shortfall of 1,578 metric tons.

In order to make up the deficit in industrial tomatos an auction will be held on April 23 at the National Commodity Exchange. “… The selected product will be allowed to enter the country from 28 April to 31 December 2015, according to the verdict of the National Commission on Commodity Exchanges. ”

The agricultural cycle of the 2014-2015 industrial tomato harvest closed with a deficit of 45.8% due to an attack of the whitefly pest and due to reuse of seeds that had lost nutrients. Only 30 farmers were able to grow more than a thousand hectares of industrial tomato with which they managed to get access to a $1 per hundredweight bonus from the government.

Celestino Rivera, president of the Association of Industrial Tomato Growers, told Prensa.com that “… In the region of Los Santos producers spent over 12 years using the same variety of seeds, which over time lose their potential. At planting time the most commonly used variety is T9, although T7 and T8 also exist. If the producers had access to good quality seeds they could plane over 37,000 tomato plants in one hectare.”