Chemical-free tomato cultivation gains ground at Godagari

RAJSHAHI, Feb 10: The farmers of Godagari Upazila here have been showing interest in commercial cultivation of chemical-free tomato on raised platforms for the last few years as they got much output along with fair price.
Upazila Agriculture Extension Officer (UAEO) Mariam Ahmed said, "In the last two years, three farmers at Iswaripur under Dewpara Union and at Gopalpur under Matikata Union have achieved tremendous success in cultivating chemical-free tomato on this specially-built platform. In the current season, this type of tomato was cultivated on 10-bigha land on raised platforms. The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has trained several farmers on this kind of tomato cultivation."
Farmer Ziarul Islam of Iswaripur in the upazila cultivated hybrid 'Bijly' and 'Sumaiya' varieties of tomato on 1.5-bigha land spending Tk 1 lakh.
Ziarul said, "I had to spend much for setting up platform and covering the trees with net. But, the cultivation cost will decrease from next year. I sold tomato worth about Tk 20,000 in the last two weeks."
"As the tomato is chemical-free and gets ripe on the tree, it has much demand among the customers. So, the retailers and wholesalers are buying the tomato from the land at Tk 40 per kg. In the first two weeks, tomato grew less, but the production will increase gradually," he added.
Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer (SAAO) of Dewpara Union Atanu Sarker said, "Farmer Monirul Islam of Iswaripur area profited much cultivating chemical-free tomato in this way on two bighas of land in 2016. Seeing Monirul's success, Ziarul became interested, and we helped him in the cultivation."
He further said, "Intensive care and more labourers are necessary to cultivate tomato on platforms. But, as organic fertiliser is used, much pesticide is not necessary. Birds cannot damage the produce as it is covered with net. This tomato gives output for consecutive six to seven months."
Upazila Agriculture Officer Shafiqul Islam said, "The cultivation of winter season hybrid tomato is going on in the upazila since 1998. The tomato was cultivated on 3,000 hectares of land here this year. But, most of these tomatoes are collected from the trees when these are green, and later ripened with chemical. Their cultivation is decreasing because of gradually reducing demand. So, the DAE is training the farmers on cultivating chemical-free tomato on raised platforms."