By KENNEDY MUPSENI –
THE prices of tomatoes and other fresh products on the Copperbelt have gone down by 40 per cent due to increased production.
Recently, prices of tomatoes in most towns increased beyond the reach of an average household with stakeholders attributing it to the  expanded Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) market and an  unfavourable season for fresh products.
This saw a box of tomato fetching between K300 and K350, resulting in households spending more than K15 to meet the daily tomato needs.
A check in various selling outlets in Kitwe and Kalulushi at the weekend indicated that tomato prices have been reduced by 40 per cent on average.
At Chisokone Market,  a box of tomato is in the range of K230 and K260 and a bunch of the commodity which used to cost around K5 is now costing K3.
In Chibuluma a box is costing between K230 and K250  with the selling price for the bunch previously selling at K5, being begged at K2.50.
Esther Mwamba who sells tomatoes at Chisokone Market attributed the reduction in retail prices of tomatoes to increased production.
“Many farmers have increased tomato production and as you know the rain season is always difficult to grow fresh produce but now that the season is coming to an end, we will be seeing more tomatoes on the market,” Ms Mwamba said.
Recently a research institute attributed the shortage of tomatoes which Copperbelt was facing to post harvest losses despite findings on the ground showing more tomatoes leaving for DRC.
National Institute of Ecology and Resources Management (NIERM) in its recent research conducted in major markets and farms on the Copperbelt argued that the shortage was because of rampant post-harvest losses.