Summer tomato farming brings smile to poor couple

A poor village couple has changed their life by growing off-season tomato at homestead at Hijli Musanda in Kalihati Upazila of Tangail district.
Abdus Samad and his wife Kamala Begum put hands together in farming summer tomato to drive away poverty. They normally cultivate tomato in winter season as it grows during the time of the year in this country.
Earlier, Samad came to know about the prospect of tomato farming in summer from officials of the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute in Tangai. At the initial state last year, the institute advised Samad to earmark three decimals out 33 decimals of land for cultivating summer tomato.
The institute helped the couple sow seeds of BARI-4 and BARI-8 HYV of tomato.  They planted 300 plants on the land. The couple laboured hard. After 40 days, the plants grew bigger and began to flowering.  Samad said they spent Tk5000 in farming the vegetable on the three decimals of land.  About 300 kilograms of tomato were produced and earning was recorded at Tk 15,000.
The couple, inspired by the success, brought 30 decimals of land under the summer tomato cultivation. And this gave them a profit of Tk1.0  lakh this year.
Samad said tomato is largely cultivated in Tangail during winter season. Huge quantity of tomato grows during the time, he said adding sometime, the farmers fail to make enough profit by farming winter tomato. But cultivation of summer tomato is profitable as it sells at taka 60-100 per kg.
Ashequr Rahman, a senior scientific officer of the research institute in Tangail, said the farmers need not to use insecticides during cultivation of summer tomato.  One lakh taka can be earned by farming summer tomato on one bigha of land, he said.
Kamala Begum said she always helps her husband in farming near their homesteads.  She is happy that they have alleviated poverty from the family by farming summer tomato.

Summer tomato farming brings smile to poor couple

A poor village couple has changed their life by growing off-season tomato at homestead at Hijli Musanda in Kalihati Upazila of Tangail district. Abdus Samad and his wife Kamala Begum put hands together in farming summer tomato to drive away poverty. They normally cultivate tomato in winter season as it grows during the time of the year in this country. Earlier, Samad came to know about the prospect of tomato farming in summer from officials of the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute in Tangai. At the initial state last year, the institute advised Samad to earmark three decimals out 33 decimals of land for cultivating summer tomato. The institute helped the couple sow seeds of BARI-4 and BARI-8 HYV of tomato. They planted 300 plants on the land. The couple laboured hard. After 40 days, the plants grew bigger and began to flowering. Samad said they spent Tk5000 in farming the vegetable on the three decimals of land. About 300 kilograms of tomato were produced and earning was recorded at Tk 15,000. The couple, inspired by the success, brought 30 decimals of land under the summer tomato cultivation. And this gave them a profit of Tk1.0 lakh this year. Samad said tomato is largely cultivated in Tangail during winter season. Huge quantity of tomato grows during the time, he said adding sometime, the farmers fail to make enough profit by farming winter tomato. But cultivation of summer tomato is profitable as it sells at taka 60-100 per kg. Ashequr Rahman, a senior scientific officer of the research institute in Tangail, said the farmers need not to use insecticides during cultivation of summer tomato. One lakh taka can be earned by farming summer tomato on one bigha of land, he said. Kamala Begum said she always helps her husband in farming near their homesteads. She is happy that they have alleviated poverty from the family by farming summer tomato.