Tomato growers, buyers all smiles

Good yield of tomato cultivated on vast tracts of land in the Brahmaputra river basin of Jamalpur Sadar upazila has made both growers and buyers happy with the handsome profit.

Farmers of Lakkhirchar, Tulsirchar, Narundi, Ranagachha and Sharifpur unions cultivated the vegetable on 1,300 hectares of land in the river basin areas meant for the vegetable cultivation.

The growers made a net profit of Tk 50,000 or more harvesting 125 to 130 maunds of tomatoes from one bigha last year. The number of growers has increased to around 4,000 and 2,250 more bighas of land have come under cultivation, exceeding the targeted area of 7,500 bighas this season, said Sakhawat Ikram, Sadar upazila agriculture officer.

Growers started harvesting tomato in mid-December that would continue till mid-February.

In a little over three weeks (up to January 8), they have recovered the production cost of Tk 30,000 per bigha and are now making profit by selling in local wholesale markets at Tk 500 to Tk 550 per maund. A maund of the produce sold for Tk 1,400 to Tk 1,600 for a couple of weeks early in the season, they added.

“I have cultivated tomato on one-and-a-half bighas of land at Char Jatharthapur spending Tk 45,000. I started reaping tomatoes in mid-December and I have already harvested 75 maunds, earning Tk 70,000 till the first week of January,” said Mohammad Golam Rob, 50, of Masimpur village.

“As per the prevailing yield, I will be able to harvest 125 maunds more by mid-February and earn Tk 50,000 at an average price of Tk 400 per maund,” he added.

A number of growers, including Wahab Dewani, Hamu Dewani and Habu Miah of village Madhyerchar echoed the same.

Meanwhile, a good number of buyers from different districts are engaged in purchasing huge amounts of tomato from the growers at local wholesale markets to sell it in remote areas.

Around 1,800 tonnes of tomato from four wholesale markets are carried to other parts of the country every day, including Dhaka, said Sakhawat, adding that the wholesale buyers are making good profit in the vegetable business.

“All this has been possible as the farmers were given knowledge by agriculture officials on how to grow the vegetable plants through preparing lands with proper soil treatment and modern methods of cultivation,” the agriculture officer said.