Big demand spurs growers to go after tomato

The farming of indispensible vegetable ingredient – tomato – has been on an upswing over the years for its popularity in food processing, high yield and above all good market price.

The commodity that enjoys a unique position both as a fruit and as a vegetable turns out to be super important when it comes to increasing culinary taste.

For its being a precious gourmet cook, the red fruit is widely available in kitchen markets over the years, the demand of which has encouraged farmers to indulge in tomato cultivation in a big way.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) data shows that per hectare production of the love apple has risen remarkably over the last few years.

Some 17,49,896 tonnes were produced on 57, 876 hectares of land in Fiscal Year 2019-20 while per hectare yield was 30.23 tonnes, according to the latest data.

In FY 2016-17, the country produced 14,83,499 tonnes of the vegetable item on 54, 618 hectares of land while the per-hectare harvest was 27.16 tonnes.

The production increased by 2,66,397 tonnes in three years from 2017 to 2020 and per-hectare produce also went up by 3.07 tonnes in the same period.

“Farmers are keen to cultivate tomato for its high yield and high price. Sensing the demand for this vegetable, we have been trying to introduce its summer variety for the last 3-4 years,” Shamim Ahamed, DAE additional deputy director (Horticulture), told The Business Post.

In last summer, 9,437 tonnes of tomato were harvested, however, the amount was small and per hectare yield was 26 tonnes on average, according to the agriculturist.

The highest yield was in Jashore region -- 32.4 tonnes per hectare -- while the lowest was 6.50 tonnes in Barishal region.

Tomato among high-yielding vegetables

The red apple (another name for tomato) is one of the two highest-yielding vegetables in Bangladesh occupying the second position after cabbage. Per hectare yield of cabbage stands at 30.46 tonnes – a little more than what the pulp berry (tomato) produces -- 30.23 tonnes per hectare. The third highest-yielding vegetable is radish -- 30.05 tonnes per hectare followed by bottle gourd 28.11 tonnes and brinjal 26.35 tonnes.

Districts for highest and lowest amount of tomato

Tomato is produced in every district across the country. In FY 2019-20, as a single district Sylhet produced the highest 1,15,890 tonnes in 3,863 hectares of land followed by 99,083 tonnes in 2,698 hectares in Dinajpur, 96,070 tonnes in 1,478 hectares in Jamalpur, 94,282 tonnes in 2,857 hectares in Chattogram and 77,424 tonnes in 2,326 hectares in Habiganj.

However, the district of Magura produced the lowest 1,600 tonnes followed by Natore 2,684 tonnes, Narail 2,925 tonnes, Joypurhat 3,000 tonnes and Kurigram 4,336 tonnes.

“Bele-doash soil (sandy loam soil) whose acidity level should range between 6 and 7.5 is preferable for tomato cultivation, but generally tomato grows in all types of soil,” said Kanak Chandra Roy, Upazila Agriculture Officer, Bishwanath, Sylhet.

“Tomato farming needs extra care. Commercial farmers have done well. Almost all of them are using high-yielding and hybrid seed varieties which fetch them a good profit,” he opined.

Most precious in kitchen market

The price of tomato tops the vegetable price table, with per kilogramme selling at Tk 100. Carrot costs the same as Tomato, but no other vegetable is as precious as tomato.

During a visit to the city kitchen markets on Sunday, it was found that the price of per kilogramme sweet bitter gourd, balsam pear, snake gourd, radish, eggplant and pointed gourd price was ranging between Tk 50 and Tk 60. Cucumber is sold at Tk 70 a kg while pumpkin and green papaya were priced at between Tk20 and Tk 40.

“In winter, tomato sees a drop in price – Tk 60 to Tk 70 per kg. At the same time, other vegetable prices also go down to Tk 40 on average,” said Sohel Hossain, a vegetable retailer in Shewrapara of Mirpur in the capital.

Despite the fact that tomato is the top-priced item in the vegetable chart in kitchen market, farmers at local level appear to not get an optimum sale price.

The Business Post survey finds that farmers receive only Tk 10 to Tk 30 for per kg sale of tomato.

“In one and a half bighas of my land, I used hybrid seed that helped me produce 160 maunds in last winter while tomato was sold at Tk 1,200 per maund at the very beginning. Later, I received only Tk 400 for per maund,” said Md Mansur Rahman, a farmer at Sadullahpur upazila in Gaibandha.

“From sowing seed to harvesting, it requires around Tk 20,000 to spend on cultivation,” added the grower.

Local produce meets demand for food processing industries

Tomato is widely known to be a salad ingredient and a table vegetable. In addition, it is an appropriate ingredient for making curry with small fish. However, food processors are also using tomato to make sauce and ketchup to cope with the changing food habit of people.

“Earlier, food processing industry imported tomato for making different food and kitchen items as local production was not sufficient. Now it has increased and we are using locally produced tomato,” Kamruzzaman Kamal, marketing director, PRAN-RFL Group, told The Business Post.

“We use around 20,000 tonnes of tomato annually. Other food processing companies buy tomato pulp from us and process food.”

In a recent visit to different super shops in Dhaka, it was found that, besides Pran-RFL, a dozen of companies had been making tomato sauce and ketchup.

Square Food and Beverage, BD food, Prince Food Products, Ahmed Food Products, Sajib Corporation, Shezan, Golden Harvest are the leading players among tomato processors.

A bottle of 345-350-gramme ketchup is sold at Tk 80 to Tk 90, however, different companies have also bottles and jars of different sizes and weight.

“The demand for tomato sauce and ketchup has increased rapidly. Now local producers are able to meet domestic demand,” said Rupom Roy, Meena Bazar outlet in-charge in Mogbazar.

However, tomato is being used in Pizza and some other processed foods in the country.

Import is within limit

The country has a minimal import record of tomato. In first 11 months of Fiscal Year 2020-21, Bangladesh imported 39,658 tonnes of tomato which are almost half the total tomato import in FY 2017-18. However, the import has fallen below 50,000 tonnes in the last five fiscal years excepting FY 2017-18, which saw 74,067 tonnes of tomato import.

“Food processors do not use imported tomato for making sauce, ketchup. Basically, table variety is being imported by vegetable traders,” said Kamruzzaman Kamal, director of Pran-RFL Group.

Nutrition value

According to Live Science journal, tomato is good for skin, heart and bone health, and it also contains cancer preventive properties and decreases the chance of stroke.

Tomatoes are rich in potassium, a mineral that helps nerves and muscles communicate. It also helps move nutrients into cells and waste products out of cells.

The vegetable is a very good source of several vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, especially carotenoid lycopene, which gives tomatoes their vibrant red colour.

Tomatoes are high in fibre and a good source of vitamin A, C, B2, folate and chromium. There are also a variety of carotenoids (including lycopene and beta-carotene), phytonutrients that are thought to play a role in chronic disease prevention, according to the journal.