Market ManagementTomatoes fell 40% to R8.97 a kilo and potatoes 23% to R63.46 a 10kg bag on heavy arrivals and weak demand, while avocados rose to R20.07 a kilo, the weekly GroundRules market update shows.
VegetablesWholesale tomatoes at Pimpalgaon APMC fell from Rs 321 to Rs 111 a 20-kg crate in a week, as heat sped up ripening and arrivals outran demand, hitting growers already facing drought and high costs.
VegetablesAbdul Matin of Jangirai village in Juri, Moulvibazar, invested Tk 40,000 to bring 80 decimals of overgrown fallow land under tomato, bottle gourd, cucumber and yellow watermelon, using mulch, shade net and grafting to grow tomatoes even in summer.
AgrotechSpanish seed company Semillas Fitó and Dutch genome-editing firm Hudson River Biotechnology have agreed a long-term partnership to create new genetic variation in tomatoes, starting with disease and pest resistance.
VegetablesA Madhabpur family says spraying a pesticide bought on an agent's advice turned 250 decimals of tomato plants white and rotten, a loss of about Tk 1.6 million; the UNO has ordered an inquiry.
VegetablesA CABI PlantwisePlus campaign in Ghana's Ahafo Ano North District used local-language videos and open community discussions to tackle the misuse of highly hazardous pesticides on tomatoes and other vegetables, reaching 635 people in eight dialogues.
VegetablesUS start-up Heritable Agriculture will run Kagome's tomato germplasm and breeding data through its AI genomics platform to find genes for resistance to a major, undisclosed tomato disease, then breed them into Kagome varieties.
VegetablesThe Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Ghana's CSIR-Crops Research Institute have signed a five-year MoU on joint research and technology transfer, beginning with high-yielding tomato lines and extending to cassava and yam processing and cold-chain work.
VegetablesUniversity of Hyderabad researchers have shown how the PAP26b gene moves stored phosphate from older tomato leaves to young growth, a target for breeding crops that need less phosphate fertiliser.
Berlin start-up Hexafarms has raised €4.8 million to grow a platform that reads greenhouse crops with wireless sensors and cameras and uses machine learning to tell growers how to reach the best harvest.
VegetablesOregon State University's Dry Farming Program is testing tomatoes, cucumber melons, sorghum and cut flowers that grow on moisture stored in the soil from winter rain, without summer irrigation.
A regional course on hybrid vegetable seed production for SAARC countries runs from 5 to 7 October at Yusipang, Bhutan, with the Dhaka-based SAARC Agriculture Centre; Bangladesh joins online.
VegetablesGrafting tomato onto wild eggplant rootstock has raised yields, but early tomatoes that fetched Tk 100-110 a kg last year sell for Tk 50-60; Moulvibazar has no cold store for tomatoes.
