Tomato growers get good yield, price

Amidst a well harvest and even better prices, the tomato growers almost everywhere in Rajshahi region including the vast Barind Tract are happy this winter.

“We didn't face any serious problem with tomatoes this year,” said Shariful Islam, a farmer of Pirijpur village in Godagari upazila, who is happy with his harvest. Some existing challenges proved minor setbacks and were successfully managed with the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) assistance, he said.

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 fruit.

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 is implementing special programmes to promote those among the farmers through training. Developed varieties are high-yielding and more profitable than domestic ones.

“From the beginning of the season one maund of tomatoes are being sold at over Tk 3,500,” said farmer Alimur Rahman. “After picking tomatoes the first two times most growers already recouped their production costs.” Indeed only in the past week, the wholesale tomato price dipped to around Tk 800 per maund. However, the farmers are not frustrated by the price decline.