Datia Tomato

Datia, a revered land since the ancient days is one of the most important districts of Madhya Pradesh dotted with beautiful Hindu temples dating back to the Vedic Period. This district has been held in high esteem by literary giants, philosophers, saints, sages, yogis, tapasvis and poets for its spiritual and religious potency.

This sacred land of Lord Krishna is fast emerging as an agricultural hub with record production of tomato, mint oil and medicinal and aromatic plants. Datia has always produced good – quality wheat, sesame, green peas, sugarcane and tomato.

In recent years, the state and central government have encouraged small and marginal farmers to also cultivate mint, java grass, palmrosa, lemon grass, tulasi and others to supplement their income. A notable development is that the state and central government has commissioned a one – of – a – kind Mentha Oil Plant to cater to the surplus production of mint in this district.

It is perhaps not known to many that India is the second largest producer of tomatoes in the world with the states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha being the top five producers in the country. In fact, the state of Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under tomato cultivation and contributes a little more than 15 percent to the total production in the country.

Datia is now being recognized as a valuable tomato cluster in the state with consistent quality and production annually. Though tomato is grown throughout the year, the peak harvest season is during the months of October, December and January. Marginal farmers particularly women farmers have taken a serious interest in tomato cultivation and prefer to grow both native and high – yielding varieties offered by the central and state government like F1 hybrid, Pusa Early Dwarf, Arka Saurabh, Arka Vikas and some Shankar varieties as well.

Small and marginal farmers have hugely benefited from the pro – farmer schemes, incentives, subsidies and monetary assistance offered by the central and state government. This has significantly eased their financial burden, increased their overall income, improved the soil health and allowed them to adopt organic, natural and zero farming in a big way.

As these tomatoes are cultivated using organic farming techniques, they have a vibrant colour, good size and shape and are pulpy and juicy. They are rich in potassium and Vitamin B, C and K.

Tomato paste, ketchup, sauce, pickles, juice, puree, jams, rice masala pastes and others are the main processed products from raw tomatoes. Datia tomatoes are preferred by local processing units for its juiciness, colour and ideal sweetness – tanginess.

The establishment of additional food processing units, food clusters and food parks in this district will go a long way to help the farmers, prepare more value – added products and increase export potential.