Free-obstacle motion planning of a tomato harvesting manipulator was studied based on a pseudo-distance approach. An optimization technique and alternative approach using a forward kinematics was applied to solve the path planning, which was modeled with consideration of manipulability measure maximization and obstacle avoidance for links of the manipulator. The simulation results show that the tomato harvesting manipulator can avoid obstacles successfully and reach the objective position along a specified geometric trajectory with optimal manipulability. The joints displacement varies smoothly within theirs limits. The position absolute error and moving rate of the end-effector are 0.87 mm and 0.18 m/s respectively. the harvesting manipulators can fulfill the accuracy of tomato picking with well working efficiency.