According to a Facebook publication of the Program to Support Production, Diversification of Exports and Import Substitution (Prodesi), "in September, Jamir Baptista started tomato production, when most of the region's producers bet on growing pineapple, claiming that the cold harms tomato growing.
The farmer ended up proving the opposite and overcoming the challenge: in one month he managed to harvest 60 tons of that food.
"We decided to break the myth that Mount Belo is only a pineapple producing region. It's true that this region has great potential for producing this fruit, but we thought it was possible to do something more, not least because we have a lot of resources, a lot of land, a lot of water all year round and it would be a great waste just to limit ourselves to pineapple," he said, in statements to Angop.
Jamir Baptista also made it known that tomato production in that area was easier than expected. In order to advance with the production, the farmer brought from another region tomato plants already ready to be transplanted and put them on the land of Monte Belo as an experiment.
The results were positive and surprising and for this reason Jamir wants to go further and expand the production of that food. The next plantations will have a drip irrigation system and fertilizers will be used.
The farmer also predicts that the next crops will be easier to produce, since the tomato plant is already adapted to the climate of Mount Belo.
"The process of transplanting the plants is not yet the definitive experience, despite the quantities harvested, because we made another with the same plant variety, hybrid, which was planted here at Monte Belo, germinated and gave more encouraging results. In the future, the nursery will no longer be planted in a greenhouse outside Monte Belo, because the plants which are today in better conditions were born here, quickly getting used to the climatic characteristics of the cold region", he indicated.
The responsible didn't rule out the possibility of asking for investment and support from the government to make his business viable. "We are here in an experimental project, whose results are positive, and we are already thinking on its integral expansion to the 200 hectares of farm area, whose investment is around 900 million kwanzas, which obviously, alone and without support, we won't get", he admitted.
Among the various programs of the Executive, Jamir Baptista pointed out Prodesi as a possibility and revealed that the money would be used to buy equipment and rent tractors and ploughs.
He also made it known that as the rainy season came, the farm will now bet on the production of corn, beans and soybeans. Besides, the company is also trying to produce cabbage, cabbage and bell pepper, he said.
Besides, the entrepreneur is still finishing a viability study that should be sent to the Provincial Office for Integrated Economic Development for analysis and approval and thus have access to the investment under Prodesi.
