BSS, Rajshahi :
Amidst a well harvest and better prices in the market, the tomato growers in the region including the vast Barind tract are happy this winter.
Tomato, an attractive vegetable to the consumers, has been appearing in different local markets of the region for the last couple of weeks here.
Now the farmers are collecting tomatoes from their fields and selling those in different local markets. Per maund of green tomatoes is being sold at Tk 1,000 to 1,200 in the wholesale markets.
The farmers here mainly have cultivated different varieties of tomato like ‘Nasib’, ‘NL-642’, ‘Slamot-83’, ‘Bongio’, ‘Mintu Super’, ‘Bizli’ and fewothers in different areas across the whole upazila this season. The farmers grow tomato in plenty and supply the vegetable worth Tk 2 to 3 crore to capital Dhaka and other districts every year.
Abdul Awal, a tomato grower at Keshobpur village in Godagari upazila said, “I cultivated tomato on three-bigha of land costing Tk 20,000 per bigha this season. I have already started collecting tomatoes from the field and selling in the markets”.
“We didn’t face any serious problem with the tomato crop this year,” said Shariful Islam, another farmer of Pirijpur village under the same upazila, who is happy with his harvest.
Officials of DAE said the cultivation has been increased by five to six times during the last 15-20 years due to introduction of high yielding and hybrid varieties of the vegetable.
“From the beginning of the season one maund of tomatoes sold for over Taka 3,500,” said farmer Alimur Rahman.
“After picking tomatoes the first two times most growers already recouped their production costs.”
Dr Shakhawat Hossain, senior scientific officer of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), said they developed 10 high yielding and quality varieties and modern technologies to help the growers.
BARI has been implementing special programmes to promote those among the farmers through arranging training and demonstration plots in different areas.
The rates of production of the developed varieties are comparatively high and profitable than the domestic varieties.
The farmers also prefer to cultivate some hybrid varieties which are high yielding and much more profitable, Dr Hossain said.
Tomato is now considered as the second cash crop of the region, plays an important role in the economy..
Amidst a well harvest and better prices in the market, the tomato growers in the region including the vast Barind tract are happy this winter.
Tomato, an attractive vegetable to the consumers, has been appearing in different local markets of the region for the last couple of weeks here.
Now the farmers are collecting tomatoes from their fields and selling those in different local markets. Per maund of green tomatoes is being sold at Tk 1,000 to 1,200 in the wholesale markets.
The farmers here mainly have cultivated different varieties of tomato like ‘Nasib’, ‘NL-642’, ‘Slamot-83’, ‘Bongio’, ‘Mintu Super’, ‘Bizli’ and fewothers in different areas across the whole upazila this season. The farmers grow tomato in plenty and supply the vegetable worth Tk 2 to 3 crore to capital Dhaka and other districts every year.
Abdul Awal, a tomato grower at Keshobpur village in Godagari upazila said, “I cultivated tomato on three-bigha of land costing Tk 20,000 per bigha this season. I have already started collecting tomatoes from the field and selling in the markets”.
“We didn’t face any serious problem with the tomato crop this year,” said Shariful Islam, another farmer of Pirijpur village under the same upazila, who is happy with his harvest.
Officials of DAE said the cultivation has been increased by five to six times during the last 15-20 years due to introduction of high yielding and hybrid varieties of the vegetable.
“From the beginning of the season one maund of tomatoes sold for over Taka 3,500,” said farmer Alimur Rahman.
“After picking tomatoes the first two times most growers already recouped their production costs.”
Dr Shakhawat Hossain, senior scientific officer of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), said they developed 10 high yielding and quality varieties and modern technologies to help the growers.
BARI has been implementing special programmes to promote those among the farmers through arranging training and demonstration plots in different areas.
The rates of production of the developed varieties are comparatively high and profitable than the domestic varieties.
The farmers also prefer to cultivate some hybrid varieties which are high yielding and much more profitable, Dr Hossain said.
Tomato is now considered as the second cash crop of the region, plays an important role in the economy..
