Sometime ago in one of the previous articles, I  talked about tomato production and all you need to know when venturing into tomato farming or cultivation. It’s a very interesting topic I know you will like to read over and over again.

There, you will learn a lot about the varieties of Tomato, land preparation, planting dates and periods, how to prepare yourself before going into tomato production, and so much more. Read the article and get the full gist, because in today’s article, I won’t be giving full details about tomato cultivation.

Tomatoes are vegetable crops that are commonly used for spicing up food. They are vitamins and minerals crops. They are commonly grown by peasant farmers in West Africa. The fruit has a botanical name known as Lycopersicon Esculentum. Tomato is known to some people as a berry fruit. When ripe, it can be eaten raw and used for soup
or stew preparation.

Tomatoes are mostly prepared using local tools rather than mechanized tools. There are lots of species and varieties of tomatoes, which includes:
Money maker
Valiant
Pork
Dwarf gem
Marglobe
Bonita
Roma and other local varieties.

The land is cleared with cutlass and ridges are made with local hoes. Land can be prepared by ploughing and harrowing.Tomatoes require a temperature of 20°c – 25°c. The amount of rainfall required for tomatoes to do well is 50-125cm. They also require a high level of sunshine and well-drained loamy soil, rich in organic matter.

The method of propagation of tomato seeds is by drilling or broadcasting. It is usually tedious and it is not always accurate. They are also planted in other months. But they bear fruits mostly and faster between September to December. They are also called the “Ember fruits”. Tomato seed rate is 5 – 10 kg of seeds.

Their nursery practices are done on the ground, their beds or seeds boxes with top soil, are thoroughly mixed and watered. This is the best way for a tomato nursery. Seeds are sown in drills, 5cm apart and 2.5cm deep. Most of their practices include : shading, mulching, weeding and watering. Tomato nursery practices last for three weeks when the plant is at the three-leaved stage.

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These need to be done before they are matured to be transferred into the primary stage. Tomatoes also have spacing as other fruits have spacing. It goes as :
60cm × 60cm without stalking.
50cm × 30cm with stalking.

After nursery practice, transplanting is followed. During transplanting, seedlings with 4 to 5 leaves, 15 cm to 20cm tall and about 25 to 30 days old are transplanted only with ball-of-earth. Holes measuring 5cm deep are dug and seedlings are transplanted to the field either in the morning or evening.

Health benefits of tomatoes

It helps in controlling the heart rate:-  The fruit being rich in potassium, gives about 237 mg of potassium which is good for controlling the heart rate and it is helpful in preventing strokes.

It helps in preventing eye diseases and improving the eyesight:-  Vitamins such as vitamin A, Flavonoid B complex, thiamine, niacin e.t.c are also present in tomatoes that helps in the prevention of skin and eye diseases. It has also been associated with excellent eyesight so deficiency of these vitamins might cause night blindness.

It helps in preventing and controlling high blood pressure:- Tomato has a powerful content of vitamins and minerals that helps in safeguarding our body from high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

It is good for bone and tooth formation:- Tomatoes are rich in calcium and they help in improving bone and teeth strength and bone and teeth formation in the body.

They are anti cancerous:- The antioxidant content of Tomato helps to prevent many unwanted reactions in the lungs and breast that can be cancerous.

It helps in cell repair and muscle building:- They are a natural rich source of protein which is good for cell repair and muscle building.

Now we will quickly talk about the Health benefits of tomatoes. I will be as brief as possible. So kindly pay attention and get the few points about to be listed below.

Tomatoes have a lot of health benefits. They are good for medicinal purposes, cooking, and highly nutritious.

It has a high amount of vitamins and nutritional contents:- Here, tomatoes provide 20% of the daily vitamin intake required by the body which is necessary for maintaining good health. It also has all the positive nutrients needed for the proper functioning of the body.
 

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They have lower cholesterol:- Tomato seed has a small amount of cholesterol so they don’t add cholesterol to your diet. They are high in fibre. Fibre is known to have lower cholesterol. They are also rich sources of niacin. Niacin has been used to lower cholesterol levels.

It helps in preventing blood clotting:- Tomato seeds are surrounded by a mucus layer. The layer is a fruit low. Fruit low and lycopene both help to unblock and prevent blood clots. Blood  clotting is one of the major reasons for heart disease.

It helps in boosting the immune system:- Tomato seeds have been considered among the best immunity boosting agents. They help in avoiding common cold and influenza especially for males.

It helps in glowing the skin:-  Applying tomato juice or rubbing tomato halves on the skin shines the skin and revives the glow. It contains a high amount of Vitamin c, which is known to brighten the skin.

It helps in preventing signs of aging:- Tomato enables the skin to absorb oxygen. It provides a natural skin treatment that can make the skin look younger and healthy with less effort.

In conclusion, tomatoes are better  eaten raw than to be cooked because the nutrients in it are fresher than that of the cooked one. They are in the classes of vitamins and minerals. They can be classified under fruits and vegetables.

I hope you enjoyed reading through this article?  For observations, suggestions and corrections  use the COMMENT section below to state your views.