Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji
Aimed at reducing Goa’s dependence on other states for vegetables, the state government is making a maiden attempt at growing tomatoes commercially, with the agriculture department ordering 2,000 grafted saplings for trial cultivation. If successful, the experiment could be replicated to grow Goa’s own tomatoes.
According to a senior official from the agriculture department, Goa presently does not cultivate the vegetable commercially and nearly 90% of the tomatoes are procured from outside the state.
“The department has ordered over 2,000 grafted seedlings of tomatoes from a large commercial nursery in Raipur. The saplings are expected to arrive by month-end and will be distributed to selected commercial vegetable growers across talukas,” the official said.
Grafting involves joining a high-yielding variety’s tissue to a strong, disease-resistant rootstock. “Just as we graft cashew and mango, here we are using a vigorous, resistant rootstock that can tolerate soil-borne diseases. On the top, we tie the scion of the preferred high-yielding variety,” the official said.
The experiment will be conducted by involving experienced commercial cultivators and by making use of proper mulching and drip irrigation. Mulching is the agricultural practice of covering soil with a layer of material such as organic matter (wood chips, straw, compost) or inorganic substances (plastic, stones) to improve soil productivity.
“If the grafted seedlings give good results in terms of yield and pest and disease resistance, we will promote this technology widely so that we can grow our own tomatoes in Goa,” the official said.
According to another official, state farmers currently trying high-yielding tomato varieties by sourcing seedlings from outside the state have not been successful.
“When farmers transplant the seedlings in their fields, they face serious soil-borne problems. We have nematodes and fungi like fusarium in
our soil.
When irrigation is carried out, these pathogens attack the roots. The plants grow vegetatively, but become weak and start wilting when flowering and fruiting begin,” the official said.
He said the farmers are unable to achieve even 70% of biological efficiency of the high-yielding varieties, as the plants fail to survive, especially during monsoon when soil moisture is high, despite the use of pesticides and fungicides.
