S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
Tomato cultivation has become popular in the char area of the Sylhet district as the farming in the recent years changed the fortune of hundreds of farmers through economic self-reliance.
Sources said a good number of farmers are cultivating tomato in Dakshin Surma, Biswanath, Golopgonj, Jointa, Balagonj areas in Sylhet District.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Sylhet office sources said a total of 1,498 hectares of land have been brought under tomato cultivation this robi season with a production of 55,000 tonnes of tomato.
Farmers sowed seed of tomato in the month of August to September and planted the seedlings in the beginning of October. They began plucking tomato in the beginning of December and continued marketing up to the month of February.
Aftab Ali, a farmer of Nijgown area in Dakshin Surma upazila said “I cultivate tomato on one and half bighas of land expending Taka 30,000 this year”. Now he is expecting to earn about Taka 40,000. Farmer Abdul Kadir of the same area said I got fair price of tomato in December when per mound tomato was sold Taka 1,200 to Taka 1,400 but due to bumper production the price of tomato has fallen now.
Beside a large number of male and female workers engaged themselves in tomato packing, marketing loading in trucks and different others work. In this way a female worker earned Taka 150 and a male worker earned Taka 250 per day.
Deputy Director of DAE Sylhet said due to favorable weather farmers got bumper production of tomato this year.
BSS from Rajshahi adds: Tomato farming is gaining popularity everywhere in the region particularly the vast tract of Barind area as farmers are getting fair prices of their produces.
Growers are expected to earn at least Taka 40 crore from tomato farming during the current season.
Officials at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said the cultivation has been increased by five to six times during the last 15 to 20 years due to introduction of high yielding and hybrid varieties of the vegetable and modern technologies.
Tomato, which is now considered as the second cash crop of the region, plays an important role in the economy.
