Managing your tomato business

To be successful in tomato farming;

• Keep good tomato records to help you manage it well and so you can see where the money is coming from and going to. You must not mix funds for business and personal uses. Open a Business and Savings accounts at the bank to help keep money safe for when it is needed and you must make sure you pay back your loans on time. Stick to your money plans.
• Join a farmers group to work with other tomato farmers for better knowledge and fairer tomato prices.
• Get a KEBS certificate to sell tomatoes to supermarkets and big buyers that make Ketchup, tomato paste and tomato sauce
• Contract grow: find a tomato buyer before planting and arrange for them to buy your tomatoes when you harvest. Find out how much the buyers wants to buy. This will tell you the prices to package in.
• Invest your profits back into the business to ensure that it grows. Don’t use business money for yourself. The business should pay you a salary. Use that for yourself.
• From the profits you get, start another business, such as a chicken farm. This gives you security if one of your other business has issues or fails.