Farmers in Mirsarai, Chattogram, are profiting from growing summer hybrid tomatoes. Among the most notable is Ujjal Majumder, who is selling tomatoes just as market prices are high. With help from the upazila agriculture office, 13 other farmers besides Ujjal have also grown summer tomatoes.

Fourteen farmers have grown the summer hybrid tomato; it is selling wholesale at Tk 190-200 a kg, and Ujjal expects to sell Tk 2 lakh to Tk 2.5 lakh worth.

According to the Mirsarai upazila agriculture office, 13 farmers including Ujjal have succeeded with the summer hybrid tomato BARI-8 in the upazila. They are pleased with the yield, and seeing their success, many local farmers have shown interest in growing summer tomatoes.

A tour of various markets in the upazila over the past few days found vegetable sellers had no tomatoes. At Mithachhara bazar, a vegetable seller named Anwar Hossain was selling tomatoes at Tk 260 to 270 a kg.

The hybrid tomato BARI-8 is a heat-tolerant, high-yielding summer variety. Its skin and flesh are an attractive red, and the fruit is quite fleshy. Each plant bears 40-45 fruits on average, each weighing 60-65 grams on average. The fruit is flattened-round in shape.

Ujjal Majumder of Hajishwarai village in Durgapur union has had great success with summer tomatoes and is now selling his crop at market.

"I grew hybrid tomatoes on 5 decimals of land because of the upazila agriculture office's interest," he said. "Of the money spent on preparing the land, the polythene shelter, fertiliser, pesticides and care, the upazila agriculture department bore about Tk 15,000. From the start the agriculture office has given every kind of advice and help. Loam soil is best for growing tomatoes. I have already sold 200 kg of tomatoes wholesale at Tk 190 in the local market. If the price holds, I hope to sell Tk 2 lakh to Tk 2.5 lakh worth of tomatoes."

"For a good yield and normal growth of the seedlings, a polythene shelter must be put up," he said. "The shelter should be 6 feet high in the middle and 4.5 feet on the two sides, with a 50cm-wide drain between two shelters, so that rainwater running off the shelter can drain away and other care is easier."

Mirsarai upazila agriculture officer Pratap Chandra Roy said: "Mirsarai is suitable for summer tomato cultivation. Fourteen farmers are growing summer tomatoes. Ujjal Majumder has done best, and the others have done well too. Of the 14 farmers, two were given seedlings, mulching, fertiliser and pesticide as demonstrations, and 12 were given seedlings and mulching."

"In all, summer tomatoes have been grown on one acre in the upazila," he said. "Summer tomato farming is quite profitable, which is why the initiative to grow tomatoes at this time of year was taken."

Reported by M Main Uddin.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.