Hybrid summer tomato proves profitable for farmers
Field-day on BARI-developed tomato held
Monday, 5 September 2022
A farmer was earning Tk 16,000 by spending Tk 7,000 on summer tomato cultivation as the crop proved very profitable for the farmers, said Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Director General Dr. Debasish Sarker on Saturday.
He was speaking at a field day programme on the BARI-developed hybrid summer tomato organised by BARI's Jashore-based Regional Agricultural Research Centre in Balrampur village of Bagharpara upazila.
In 1996 cultivation of summer tomato started in Bagharpara upazila of Jashore. At present, BARI hybrid tomatoes 4, 8 and 11 are being cultivated in this region on about 31 hectares of land.
Of those, the BARI Hybrid Tomato-8 variety gained immense popularity across the country, he said.
Currently 15 thousand tonnes of summer tomatoes are being produced in the country. Besides, about 20 thousand tonnes of tomatoes have to be imported from foreign countries.
"So, if the production of summer tomatoes increases in the country, the farmers will benefit and at the same time we will not need to import tomatoes", he said.
"This year we have supplied our own hybrid tomato seeds to the farmers on behalf of BARI and we want to provide quality seeds to the farmers in the future as well. And for this we will provide special allocation if necessary," he added.
The field-day was organized with the funding of the 'Adaptive trial, production and community-based pilot production programme of summer tomato in Bangladesh'.
Director General of BARI Dr. Debasish Sarker was present as the chief guest and inaugurated the field day.
BARI Director (Planning and Evaluation) Dr. Apurba Kanti Chowdhury presided over the programme.
Chief Scientific Officer of On-Farm Research Division, Gazipur, Dr. Md. Mazharul Anwar, Principal Scientific Officer of On-Farm Research Division, Khulna, Dr. Md. Harunor Rashid, Deputy Director of Department of Agricultural Extension, Jashore, Manjurul Haque, Senior Scientific Officer and Director of the Programme Dr. Md. Faruque Hossain were present as special guests.
Chief Scientific Officer of the Regional Agricultural Research Centre in Jashore Dr. Kawsar Uddin Ahmmad gave the welcome address and Scientific Officer of the RARS, Jashore Md. Babul Anwar conducted the programme.