Whether as a stand-alone meal or mixed together with other indigenous vegetables, tomato is admittedly one of the most popular foods in Asian and African dinner tables. Being so, scientists at the World Vegetable Center (WVC) designed the Center’s newest variety to contain three to five times more beta-carotene than regular red tomatoes. This is good news to the region which has a recorded high incidence of preventive diseases caused by Vitamin A deficiency. But there’s more. The variety is also found to have high resistance to both Gemini virus and tomato mosaic virus, two of the deadliest viruses that affect tomato crops.

It used to be thrown away in rotten state as a sign of protest. Nowadays, the tomato has gained a totally new perspective. From now on, much of Asia and Africa’s vision will be indebted to this succulent fruit.

With its recent release of high beta-carotene cherry tomatoes in Taiwan, the World Vegetable Center has secured a steady supply of Vitamin A especially in deficient areas in Asia and Africa. Compared with the regular red tomato, the WVC-developed tomato is packed with three to six times more beta-carotene.

Beta-carotene is converted by the body into Vitamin A, an essential nutrient that helps in gaining clear vision and preventing macular degeneration and eye condition that can lead to blindness. Vitamin A is also known to fight off cancer and heart disease, and aid tooth development and reproduction. Deficiency in Vitamin A causes blindness and increases the risk of death from infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

In tropical areas such as Asia and Africa, about 25 million have become blind from preventable diseases due to lack of Vitamin A in the diet. As tomato is one of the most commonly prepared vegetables in Asia, WVC’s beta-carotene tomato is expected to help reverse this trend in said regions.

Doubling the benefits
In their evaluation on the crop in 2004, WVC scientists found out another plus in this vision-enhancing tomato. Aside from its nutritional and health benefits, the high beta-carotene tomato hybrid has also shown high resistance to gemini virus and tomato mosaic virus, two of the most destructive viruses that affect tomato crops.

Gemini virus, called such for the germ’s twinned cell particles, is usually carried by whitefly though it can also live in weeds. The initial symptom of the disease is the curling of the leaves’ edges that eventually turn yellow and rubbery.

Not much scientific attention was given to gemini virus until 1999 when it caused a multi-million dollar massive destruction of tomato, squash, and cotton farms in 39 tropical and sub-tropical countries because of leaf curl disease. In fact, this disease has been inflicting heavy damage on tomato crops in Asia. In Bangladesh alone which cultivates about 40,000 acres of tomato annually, leaf curl disease often causes up to 100 percent loss in yield.

Thus this fresh variety offers perky alternative to both farmers and consumers as it is much healthier and brims with profit-enhancing potential.

WVC’s role in tomato production

Tomato is an amazingly popular and versatile food that can be prepared in many ways, providing a rich but inexpensive source of micronutrients. Asia accounts for 50 percent of the global tomato production, with China on top with its 7.6 million tons of tomato products a year.

For its part, the WVC has given much attention to the development and promotion of vegetables, including tomatoes, that are rich in micronutrients, and in enhancing their nutritional bioavailability.

In Africa, WVC did not only develop beta-carotene and iodine rich tomatoes but also ensured the high bioavailability of these nutrients in the region. Improved varieties are now more accessible to women and children who need them most, elevating the nutritional levels of Vitamin A and iron in said area.

WVC has also improved the citric acid and ascorbic acid content of tomatoes to enhance iron absorption from food. When cooked with iron-rich mungbeans for example, the ascorbic acid in tomato enables the iron in mungbeans to become biologically available for human digestion.

WVC’s extensive tomato programme not only enhanced the fruit’s nutritional value but also lengthened its shelf life without sacrificing important qualities such as taste and resistance to pests.

In Tanzania, WVC’s African Regional Program has developed long-life varieties that stay firm within 10-15 days, with some even lasting for a month. This lengthened shelf-life, coupled with resistance to a variety of major diseases and pests, gave major advantage to high yielding tomato lines over local varieties.

With the support of the German government, WVC has developed in Africa tomato varieties that resist a major disease called late blight. Republic of China has also lent support to the Center in developing an effective and affordable detection method for scientists that will facilitate research on bacterial wilt and help to prevent future epidemics.

Still under its tomato programme, WVC is currently developing heat tolerant, disease resistant varieties that can be grown during the wetter, warmer periods without catching widespread microbial diseases.

Once mistaken as "Pomme d'Amore" (Apple of Love), the tomato has thus set the sights right in Asia and Africa. Protest no more, because its crisp, sanguine potentials have finally made the tomato as the new apple of the eyes.