Hybrid Summer Tomato: Sylhet banking on new cash crop

Growers of different summer varieties of tomato, especially the one named Raja, are making more or less 200 percent profit this season in Sylhet region.

The prospect of lucrative profits is shining ray of new hope on Sylhet's agricultural communities as many of the community members alleviated poverty by cultivating the early varieties of the produce.  

These new varieties of tomato, which is conventionally produced in the winter season, are also helping diversify agriculture and thus strengthen the local economy through generation of new jobs.  

While speaking with this correspondent, Azizul Islam, Abdul Karim, Altaf Hossain and Sekendar Ali -- all from Madhabpur upazila in Habiganj, said they all became self-reliant by cultivating tomato.

Around Tk 3 lakh worth of Raja variety of tomato can be produced on one bigha of land after spending around Tk 1 lakh on its cultivation, said Abbas Uddin, a successful grower of the crop, from Notunbazar village in Madhabpur upazila of Habiganj.

"I cultivated Raja tomato on one bigha of land and this month I sold around 200 kilograms of the produce for Tk 80 to 100 per kg. The harvesting will continue for another month."

Sarwar Hossain, another tomato farmer in the same upazila, cultivated its early variety on one bigha of land. He said he reaped a harvest of 300 kg so far and was able to sell each kg at Tk 70 to 80.

The region is seeing a remarkable increase in net acreage of tomato farming and the trend is drawing in more investments, said Kazi Lutful Bari, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Moulvibazar.

The usual harvesting time of the early tomato variety is between August and September, but in order to capitalise on higher prices, driven by higher demands at markets across the country, many of the growers are harvesting it a bit earlier, he also said. 

Abdul Momin, agriculture officer in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar, said the hybrid summer tomato, which requires less irrigation, was proven profitable during its trial cultivation last year, leading to the increase in its commercial farming in the area.

The DAE has been arranging various motivational and training programmes in the entire Sylhet division, as the cultivation of tomato, which is rich in vitamins, can yield success for geographical reasons, said DAE's Sylhet Division Deputy Director Kazi Mojibur Rahman.

He also said that they set a target of producing 3,14,955 tonnes of tomato from 9,949 hectares of land in the region this season, as opposed to 2,92,032 tonnes from 9,204 hectares last year.

Prof Mohammad Ashraful Islam, chairman of Agricultural Extension Education at Sylhet Agricultural University, said hybrid summer tomato can tolerate high temperatures while its size, taste and flavour are similar to those of the winter varieties.