Tomatoes are not vegetables, they are fruits people say. But we use them as vegetables. Some times it is Rs 10 a kilo while it also goes up to Rs 70. While the local tomatoes are in great demand we are getting Cherry tomatoes with small size and being used as fruits and for other purposes. They are smaller than the regular tomatoes and are coming in good packing from Hyderabad. They also have lot of health qualities.
These Cherry Tomatoes are being grown on commercial basis and are reaping rich benefits. Sparsh Bio, which farms them in this village in backward Rangareddy district, is betting big on the increasing popularity and acceptance of cherry tomatoes. It has established an integrated cherry tomato unit on 25 acres with 30,000 sq m of hybrid poly houses for the exclusive cultivation of exotic varieties.
At the Sparsh farm, hydroponic techniques are deployed; the plants are provided with a recipe of nutrition, which ensures consistent quality and round-the-year production of the tomatoes.
The seeds are sourced from Rijkzwaan, a Swiss company. The hydroponic growing facility has been built with material from France and Spain. “The health benefits of cherry tomatoes are understated in India. We are the biggest producer in the country now and plan to expand into export markets soon.”
Cherry tomatoes are a typical winter crop, but they are now grown round the year; Sparsh Bio supplies them to supermarket chains in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune under the brand label ‘Swiss Miss’. Export consignment have gone to West Asia. The unit is located close to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad.
Most aspects of the cultivation techniques, design and erection of the facilities have been developed by Sparsh Bio. The company uses reverse osmosis process to ensure purified water for the crop at the facility, which has FSSAI registration, export certification and APEDA registration. A packing facility that can handle 1,000 kg of cherry tomatoes a day and a cold storage have also been set up.
Cherry tomato plants offer yields for a total of 210 to 240 days a year; each plant produces 3-4 kg over the period. One acre can accommodate 5,500-5,700 plants. The tomatoes have a shelf life of 8-10 days. The major producers are Spain, Morocco and China; Europe and the Americas are the biggest consumer markets.
