Tomatoes make growers smile
Pirojpur farmers say setbacks could be overcome although flood had delayed planting, fog affected crops
With a healthy harvest and even healthier prices, the tomato growers of Baniary village in Pirojpur's Nazirpur upazila are upbeat this winter.
“We didn't face any serious problem with the tomato crop this year,” says farmer Haider Sheikh who is happy with his harvest. Even though flooding delayed planting and a few weeks ago crops were impacted by fog, such challenges proved minor setbacks and were successfully managed with help from the department of agriculture extension, local farmers said.
“From the beginning of the season one maund of tomatoes sold for over Tk 3,000,” reports gleeful neighbouring farmer Sunil Mondal. “After picking tomato crops the first two times most growers already recouped their production costs.”
Indeed only in the past week or so has the wholesale tomato price dipped to around Tk 500 per maund; the season has been so lucrative thus far however that the farmers are not frustrated by the price decline.
“Profits are up compared to previous years,” says another grower, Premananda Akarson, “so the reduced price now cannot make us unhappy.” Tomatoes in the area are expected to be harvested for a further month.
An ongoing difficulty that farmers face, however, is in transporting their tomatoes to market. “The village roads are in an appalling state,” says one grower, Anadi Bala. “It's quite difficult to reach the wholesale bazaar and sometimes due to transport delay we cannot achieve full price for the tomatoes.”
According to Nazirpur's sub-assistant agriculture officer Bijan Krishna Howlader, tomatoes were cultivated on 75 hectares in the upazila this season. “As tomatoes are rather profitable, farmers are keen on growing them,” he says. “Most often various hybrid varieties are preferred.”
Tomatoes in Baniary are grown on the raised embankments of fish enclosures, gardens that produce a variety of vegetables year-round.