India: Growers Choose High-Yielding Tomato Varieties
As the Rabi season progresses across India, farmers are shifting focus from traditional cereals and pulses to high-value vegetable crops like tomatoes. By adopting scientific advancements and protected cultivation technologies, they can earn substantial profits on small plots of land.
Promising Tomato Varieties by IARI
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, has developed several high-yielding and disease-resistant tomato varieties, including:
- Pusa Rakshit
- Pusa Tomato Hybrid-1
- Pusa Cherry-1
- Pusa Golden Cherry Tomato-2
These varieties show excellent results under protected cultivation, enabling farmers to earn net profits up to ₹1.3 lakh from just 1000 square meters of land.
Benefits of Protected Cultivation
Using protected structures such as polyhouses or net houses offers significant advantages:
- Extended crop life
- Year-round production
- Market-linked pricing
Unlike traditional tomato farming, which lasts only 3 to 4 months, these improved varieties can be harvested for 10 to 11 months continuously, reducing weather risks and tapping into off-season market demand.
These varieties “have shown exceptional potential under protected cultivation, enabling farmers to generate a net profit of up to ₹1.3 lakh from just 1000 square meters of land.”
Protected cultivation allows for prolonged fruit-bearing, supporting continuous harvesting and increased profitability.
Summary: Indian farmers are boosting profits by growing high-yield, disease-resistant tomato varieties developed by IARI under protected cultivation, enabling extended harvests and better market returns.