Tomato plays key role in reducing poverty in Faridpur
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Our Correspondent
FARIDPUR, Mar 29: Tomato, which is considered as the second cash crop in the district, has been playing an important role in poverty alleviation.
At least 30,000 families are getting direct financial benefits from either tomato cultivation, or its trading.
Witnessing windfall profits, thousands of local youths have been engaged in tomato cultivation to earn their livelihood.
It was learnt the tomato growers earned around Tk 20,000-Tk 25,000 by cultivating tomato on a bigha of land last season.Thus, tomato farming has been playing a vital role in changing lots of the local farmers in recent times.The farmers are expecting around Tk 100 million from tomato farming during the current season, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Faridpur sources said.
The wholesalers from Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Shariatpur, Faridpur and Madaripur rush to the local markets for purchasing tomato.
Soil and climatic condition of the district are suitable for tomato cultivation. And the crop is now widely cultivated on the dry soil, sources said.
Different public and private commercial banks, especially the Bangladesh Krishi Bank, have extended credit facilities to local farmers to make them interested in tomato cultivation, while the DAE is providing them with technological assistance for making tomato cultivation more profitable.The Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) has developed ten high yielding varieties of tomato. It also imparts trainings to local farmers to promote tomato farming in the district.
FARIDPUR, Mar 29: Tomato, which is considered as the second cash crop in the district, has been playing an important role in poverty alleviation.
At least 30,000 families are getting direct financial benefits from either tomato cultivation, or its trading.
Witnessing windfall profits, thousands of local youths have been engaged in tomato cultivation to earn their livelihood.
It was learnt the tomato growers earned around Tk 20,000-Tk 25,000 by cultivating tomato on a bigha of land last season.Thus, tomato farming has been playing a vital role in changing lots of the local farmers in recent times.The farmers are expecting around Tk 100 million from tomato farming during the current season, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Faridpur sources said.
The wholesalers from Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Shariatpur, Faridpur and Madaripur rush to the local markets for purchasing tomato.
Soil and climatic condition of the district are suitable for tomato cultivation. And the crop is now widely cultivated on the dry soil, sources said.
Different public and private commercial banks, especially the Bangladesh Krishi Bank, have extended credit facilities to local farmers to make them interested in tomato cultivation, while the DAE is providing them with technological assistance for making tomato cultivation more profitable.The Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) has developed ten high yielding varieties of tomato. It also imparts trainings to local farmers to promote tomato farming in the district.