Cost of Cultivation of Tomato in Kuwait in Uncooled Plastic Tunnel System - A Case Study

Tomato is one of the main vegetable crops in Kuwait with a total greenhouse production of 39,218.3 tonnes and with a value of $ 9.58 million in 2004. Because of the country’s harsh climate, scarce water resources and poor-quality land resources, protected agriculture has a significant role in Kuwait’s agricultural development. Tomato is grown in 25% of total area under greenhouse crops and it produces 30% of total value of greenhouse crops. Approximately 89% of protected agriculture is carried out in un-cooled and cooled plastic tunnels. Calculation of the production cost of tomato in Kuwait is very important for both the farmers and the government to achieve efficient crop production and to improve resource management within the country. This study is aimed to estimate the cost of production of tomato in Kuwait in uncooled plastic tunnels. Al-Faisalia farm in Al-Wafra was taken for case study. Tomato (super sweet 100) was grown in uncooled plastic tunnel green house (30 x 9 m) and the costs incurred were categorized into initial investment costs, fixed costs and variable costs.The productivity in the case farm was 4.96 kg/m .The total cost to produce one kilogram of 2 tomato was estimated to be $ 1.03. The net profit per square meter and net profit per kilogram were $ 1.41 and $ 0.28 respectively. The study shows that tomato production can be profitable in Kuwait if the available resources are managed efficiently with proper marketing.