A team of global tomato breeders from the Taiwan-headquartered World Vegetable Center (WVC) on Thursday visited the Agriculture Market Yard at Madanapalle, considered the largest in South India, and interacted with tomato growers. The team members also visited the the tomato fields in Ramasamudram, Madanapalle, Nimmanapalle and Palamaner mandals.
Peter Hanson, a U.S.-based lead tomato breeder, who headed the team, was accompanied by Agriculture Market Yard (Madanapalle) chairman Ratakonda Gurappa Naidu, translating the versions of farmers for the team on the field. WVC project coordinator, Srikanth Babu, and Scientific Officer J. Karthik recorded the version of tomato growers.
Mr. Hanson said the Madanapalle variety was amazing with high quality. “I appeal to the farmers of this region to go in for dual purpose tomato breeds intended for both processing industries and domestic needs. Though there is much demand for the processing varieties in India and abroad, the production levels are not encouraging. The World Vegetable Center will play a crucial role in guiding the farmers here in the direction of raising dual purpose crops. This will be quite economical and also profitable,” he said, adding the experiments to this extent were giving encouraging results at the labs set up in the four mandals. “Soon, the fruits of labs will reach the lands,” Mr. Hanson said.
Mr. Gurappa Naidu said the World Vegetable Center had been actively involved in raising dual purpose tomato varieties after thorough research into the soil and climatic conditions of the region. He said it was a welcome sign that the horticulture scientists had noted that the Madanapalle variety with a stamina to withstand temperatures as high as 45 degrees C could be developed and promoted as a premier crop, with global recognition.
“The new dual purpose varieties, once launched in Madanapalle region, would help farmers reap gold in their fields. The efforts of the State government to develop Chittoor district as horticulture hub has boosted the morale of tomato growers. The objective of World Vegetable Center is to make tomato farming a highly viable economic activity in Madanapalle region. Similar research is also going on in Karnataka and Maharashtra,” he said.
