550,000 tons of tomatoes produced locally per year

MADINAH: Twenty-five percent of the market needs for tomatoes are fulfilled locally as the Kingdom produces around 550,000 tons of the fruit annually, an agricultural department official has said.
“The Kingdom has dedicated 16,800 hectares of land for the production of the much-needed fruit, Sameer Ali Qabbani, chairman of the board for agricultural irrigation and energy,” was quoted as saying by local media on Tuesday.
Tomatoes are the second largest consumed agricultural product in the world with a harvest that exceeds 100 tons every year, he said. “The product is locally known as the crazy fruit because of its sensitivity to weather conditions prices rise to SR45 per box during Ramadan.”
According to Qabbani, who is also a member of the investment council in Madinah and the board of the Saudi Grains Organization, some countries annually produce around 30 billion seeds that have high nutritious value. This is known as the hybrid tomato, but it is not genetically modified and are exported to more than 30 countries, including the Middle East and Saudi Arabia.
He said tomatoes are the second largest product in the world after potatoes.
“Heinz started producing the hybrid tomato seeds in the 1970s; these adapt to various weather conditions around the world and have fixed nutritious value, in addition to their high production capacity,” said Qabbani.
“Heinz exports them to 30 countries, including the United States, China, Spain, Australia, India, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.”
Qabbani said that Heinz seeds are used by 35 percent around the world, stressing that hybrid seeds are different from genetically modified seeds. Hybrid products, he said, are those that are modified and raised by human beings, and are very important in faming. These are developed by breeders in international companies and are exported to many countries around the world, including the Saudi Arabia, he said.
“China is the biggest tomato producer with 40 million tons, followed by India, US, Spain and Egypt. There are alliances between dealers and companies to find the best land to prepare them to plant products that cover the global needs of ketchup,” said Qabbani.