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Bumper tomato output delights Bagerhat farmers


Published : 10 Jan 2023 07:04 PM

Vegetable farmers in Bagerhat's Chitalmari are dreaming of a change of fortune through tomato cultivation. They made a revolution by cultivating tomatoes on the banks of the fish enclosure. There has been a bumper crop this year. The trees are overflowing with tomatoes on the banks of every fence here. Trucks are reaching remote villages every day. This tomato produced by the tireless efforts of the farmers is meeting the needs of different regions of the country.

Farmers are quite happy with the prices this year. So they are dreaming of changing their fortunes through tomato farming.

According to Chitalmari Upazila Fisheries Office sources, the total number of shrimp cages here is 16 thousand 15. Its total area is 16 thousand 734 acres. Out of this, 13 thousand 758 enclosures and 2 thousand 257 enclosures of Bagda shrimp are cultivated. Farmers here produce 260 metric tons of bagda and lobsters and large quantities of white fish annually. Farmers grow vegetables in almost every corner of this Upazila. In addition to fish farming, they also benefit greatly from vegetable farming.

According to Chitalmari Agriculture Office sources, there are at least 16 thousand vegetable farming families in this Upazila. Farmers here cultivate cucumbers on 1,576 acres of land, gourds on 465 acres of land, sweet pumpkins on 131 acres of land, rice pumpkins on 104 acres of land and other vegetables on 595 acres of land on a total of 2,871 acres of land. This winter, farmers have cultivated various types of vegetables including tomatoes. And most of the farming has been done on the banks of fish enclosures. This year, various varieties of tomatoes including Chakra, Panpata, Mintu Super, Lovely, Hitom and Beauty have been cultivated in 1 thousand 840 acres of land in the Upazila. Farmers here have created a revolution by cultivating tomatoes. Tomatoes are now overflowing on the trees along each perimeter.

Ganapati Mondal, Prakash Majumder, Sujit Singh and Animesh Mondal (Saddam), tomato farmers of Kharamkhali village, said, 'Tomatoes of this region meet the needs of different parts of the country. Millions of tons of tomatoes are produced here every year.

The market price of tomatoes is good this year. At first, 2,000 rupees were sold, but the current price is 800 rupees per pound. This will also benefit the farmers. So we are dreaming of a change of fortune by cultivating tomatoes this year.

Chitalmari Upazila Agriculture Officer Md. Sifat-al-Maruf said that tomato is a major cash crop for farmers in the region. This year, winter diseases are less. Tomatoes have also had a bumper crop. Farmers will benefit this year.