Tomato

Tomato is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetables in the world ranking second in importance to potato in many countries. The fruits are eaten raw or cooked. Tomato in large quantities is used to produce soup, juice ketchup, puree, paste and powder, it supplies vitamin C and adds variety of colours and flavours to the food. Green tomatoes are also used for pickles and preserves. Its many forms are adapted to wide range of soils and climates extending from the tropics to almost the Artic circle. It has many other uses; tomato seeds contain 24 per cent oil used as salad oil and in the manufacture of margarine. By virtues of its many attributes, tomato is considered as a favourite crop for research in physiology and cytogenetics, all over the world.

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) belongs to the genus Lycopersicon under Solanaceae family. Tomato is a herbaceous sprawling plant growing to 1-3 m in height with weak woody stem. The flowers are yellow in colour and the fruits of cultivated varieties vary in size from cherry tomatoes, about 1–2 cm in size to beefsteak tomatoes, about 10 cm or more in diameter. Most cultivars produce red fruits when ripe. Tomato is a native to Peruvian and Mexican region. Though there are no definite records of when and how it came to India , the Portuguese perhaps introduced it to India.

Tomato is one of the most important "protective foods" because of its special nutritive value. It is one of the most versatile vegetable with wide usage in Indian culinary tradition. Tomatoes are used for soup, salad, pickles, ketchup, puree, sauces and in many other ways It is also used as a salad vegetable. Tomato has very few competitors in the value addition chain of processing.

2. International scenario :

Tomato is the world's largest vegetable crop after potato and sweet potato, but it tops the list of canned vegetables. The total global area under tomato is 46.16 lakh ha and the global production is to the tune of 1279.93 lakh tonnes. The major tomato producing countries, area, production, productivity and percentage share in the world production is given in Table 1.

Table 1. Area, production, productivity and percentage share 
of world production

Country	Area (000’ ha)	Production (000’t)	Productivity  (t / ha)	% share of world production
Brazil	61	3453	56.61	2.70
China	1305	31626	24.23	24.71
Egypt	195	7600	38.97	5.94
India	535	9362	17.50	7.31
Iran	139	4781	34.40	3.74
Italy	139	7187	51.71	5.62
Mexico	119	2800	23.53	2.19
Spain	72	4810	66.81	3.76
Turkey	260	10050	38.65	7.85
USA	167	11043	66.13	8.62
Others	1624	35281	21.72	27.56
TOTAL	4616	127993	27.73

Source : NHB Data base (2005-06)

The world trade in tomato consists of an export of 49.50 lakh tonnes valued at 50802.88 lakh US$ and imports are to the tune of 47.30 lakh tonnes estimated at 50415.26 lakh US$

3. National scenario :

The state wise area, production and productivity of tomato is given in Table 2.

Table 2. State wise scene Area, Production and Productivity of Tomato in India

STATE/UTs	Area (000’ ha)	Production (000’t)	Productivity (t/ha)
ANDHRA PRADESH	76.50	1453.50	19.00
BIHAR	46.00	727.20	15.81
CHHATTISGARH	29.20	365.80	12.53
GUJARAT	29.30	650.00	22.18
HARYANA	17.10	257.30	15.05
KARNATAKA	44.50	1188.10	26.70
ORISSA	100.40	1332.20	13.27
MADHYA PRADESH	20.40	306.70	15.03
MAHARASHTRA	35.00	987.00	28.20
TAMIL NADU	22.00	277.70	12.62
WEST BENGAL	50.00	857.20	17.14
OTHERS	64.10	959.10	14.96
TOTAL	534.50	9361.80	17.52

Source : NHB Data base (2005-06)

The major tomato growing tracts in India are given in Table 3.

Table 3. Major tomato growing tracts of the country

State	Major tomato growing districts
Uttar Pradesh	Varanasi, Mirzapur
Himachal Pradesh	Shimla, Kullu, Solan
Punjab	Amritsar, Ropar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur
Haryana	Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjarr, Faridabad, Karnal
Rajasthan	Jaipur, Dholpur, Alwar, Tonk, Bharatpur
Bihar	Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Bhagalpur, Patna, Aurangabad, Nalanda, Bhojpur, W&E Champaran
Jharkhand	Ranchi, Lohardaga , Hazaribagh, Godda
Maharashtra	Nashik, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nagpur
Gujarat	Surat, Valsad, Baroda, Ahmednagar, Gandhinagar, Kedha, Jamnagar
Madhya Pradesh	Satna, Sagar, Jabalpur,
Chhatisgarh	Raipur, Durg, Bastar, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Surguja
Orissa	Bolangir, Kendrapada, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar
Andhra Pradesh	Rangareddy, Mehabubnagar, Prakasam, Vishakapattanam, Chittor
Karnataka	Kolar, Bangalore, Bellary, Dharwad, Belgaum
Tamil Nadu	Thiruvannamalai, Salem, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, Erode,, Trichy, Madurai, Dindigul

Tomato is mainly grown as Rabi crop in the plains of India. However in the hilly region it can also be grown as a summer and rainy season crop.