By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: The tomato growers in Barikot tehsil are earning good profits on their produce this year due to a bumper crop.
Hazrat Khan, who has been growing and supplying tomato to Rawalpindi and Peshawar markets for last 19 years, said that his produce got better rates in the two cities. “Tomato produced in Swat is liked by people in other parts of the country due to its good quality,” he said.
Hazrat Khan said he had about 10 labourers working on his fields, some of whom picking tomatoes while others packing the produce for transportation.
Photo by Fazal Khaliq
“We are happy to work in tomato fields close to our homes, because, otherwise we would have to go to Lahore, Karachi or other parts of the country to earn a living for our families,” Hussain Bacha, who tills a tomato filed, told this correspondent.
Not only the tomatoes are transported to down country the farmers and dealers also display the product along the roadsides to attract customers, mostly tourists to Swat valley.
Inayat Khan, 59, who has set up a stall on the Peshawar-Swat road, said he daily bought tomatoes from the growers and sold them along the roadside.
“We sell vegetables to earn a living,” he said, adding Swat valley is rich in producing fruits and vegetables. He said that the tourists liked to buy vegetables and fruits from the roadside stalls on their way back to their homes. “Whenever we come here we find something good, either fruits or vegetables, as these are good in quality and cheaper in rate,” said Sultan Ahamd, a tourist from Peshawar, who held a big plastic bag full of tomatoes.
About 20 to 30 trucks daily transport tomatoes to the fruit and vegetable markets in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar from Barikot tehsil. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the major producer of tomato contributing about 45 per cent of the overall production.
According to the agriculture research centre in Swat, tomato is grown on about 4,000 hectares of land in Swat with an annual production of 7,910 tonnes, half of which being produced in Barikot and Kabal tehsils.
Photo by Fazal Khaliq
Fazal Maula, an agriculture expert and horticulturist, said the soil of Barikot was suitable for producing tomato because of the cool environment and the farmers having good knowledge about the crop.
“The tomato crop is usually healthy as the Swat River’s cool breeze keeps the sandy fields mostly free of any major disease,” he said, adding the agriculture research centre conducted various trainings for growers on new techniques, varieties of the crop, pest management, seed and nursery treatment.
