New tomato for the Solomons
Tested under tough field conditions, MAL-SI/LE/01/14 outperformed the competition in yield and taste.
Farmers and growers in the Solomon Islands will soon be producing more and better tomatoes, thanks to an ongoing collaborative effort between AVRDC and the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL). On 25 February 2014 MAL officially recommended and launched one of AVRDC’s open pollinated tomato lines known as CLN2585D, now locally code named MAL-SI/LE/01/14. A total of 122 people attended the launch of the new variety at MAL headquarters in Honiara, including representatives from the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, seed suppliers and farmers/growers.
Acting Director of Agriculture Research, Helen Tsatsia officially opened the event. AVRDC plant pathologist Jaw-Fen Wang then addressed the audience, noting that this was the first variety release AVRDC has made in the Solomon Islands; hence it was a milestone for the Center as well as the Solomons. In his speech, Acting Permanent Secretary of MAL Jimi Saelea recommended MAL-SI/LE/01/14 as a new adapted tomato line and encouraged farmers and interested growers throughout the country to plant it. He emphasized that the line had been evaluated under Solomon Islands’ conditions over a number of cropping seasons and out-performed locally available tomato varieties in yield and taste. Rose Sese, a farmer in the Guadalcanal plains east of Honiara, supported his claim; she participated in the initial stages of the field evaluation and witnessed the line’s performance in the field.
A total of 237 seed packets of the new line were distributed during the event to interested farmers.
Under local conditions, plants produce ripe fruits approximately 56 days after transplanting and the average fruit weight is 190 grams. From a field trial in a farmer’s field on Guadalcanal in the regular growing season of 2013, the average marketable yield was 16 tonnes per hectare.
Quick to capture the excitement surrounding a new product, reporters from local daily newspapers Solomon Star and Island Sun and the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (radio and TV) covered the launch and conducted interviews during the event. Interested farmers who heard the news on the radio or read about it in the newspapers later visited MAL and AVRDC offices in Honiara to collect seed packets of the new tomato line.
Fruit of MAL-SI/LE/01/14 is currently sold to local hotels in Honiara by Guadalcanal farmer groups outside Honiara participating in the Participatory Guarantee Scheme (PGS) Project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and implemented by MAL and AVRDC. The hotel managers appreciate the high quality of the fruit, and demand has been strong.
— contributed by Pitakia Tikai
Read more:
Support for Sustainable Crops, Solomon Islands Star, 3 March 2014
Listen:
Radio Australia, 19 March 2014
Solomon Islands gets tomato bred just for them
Jaw-Fen Wang and Jimi Saelea with ripe fruit of the new tomato.
