Be a Tomato Millionaire!

Plant tomatoes for success –decoding tomato production and income potential from 1 acre land...

Tomato cultivation is one of the most profitable agriculture businesses. It is an excellent option for those looking to harvest a commercially important crop four times a year. While tomato is cultivated throughout the year in almost all seasons, a farmer can get high and good yields if it is cultivated in winter or spring seasons. In the rainy season, the best season to grow is in the months of June to July, in the spring season it is cultivated in October to November; and in summer season tomato farming is done from January to February.

In this article, we will be decoding the economics of 1 acre regular tomato cultivation.

The total duration of tomato commercial cultivation is about 110 to 140 days. However, yielding starts after 50 to 60 days of sowing. The picking can be done every 10 to 15 days interval from the date of first picking. A farmer can go for picking about five times until the last harvest. The farmer can get a total yield of 8 to 12 tonnes/acre.

Cost of Tomato seed per acre

Tomato seed rate for 1 acre is 200 gm, whereas it is about 60 to 80 gms for hybrid varieties. The cost for tomato seeds for 1 acre cultivation is about Rs 300 for good quality seed.

Cost of Tomato seed treatment per acre

Seed treatment is done with thiram (3g/kg seed) or metalaxyl (3g/kg seed) to control soil and seed borne plant pathogens and Imidacloprid (5g/kg seed) to control pests. In addition, farmers can also go for Trichoderma seed treatment (4g/kg seed). All these seed treatments incur an average cost of rs 250 for 1 acre.

Cost of ploughing Tomato field per acre

For ploughing in 1 acre and 4X1 nursery seedbed making, it costs about Rs 1000, including labour and machinery rental changes.

Cost of Transplanting per acre

Cost of transplanting a tomato crop comes to Rs 500, with two labours, for 1 acre area.

Cost of labor per acre

An average of 16 laborers is required every 15 days for various tasks in the field. Therefore, the total cost of labour falls at Rs 3600 (16 laborers).

Miscellaneous costs per acre

In tomato cultivation, various miscellaneous costs are incurred including - rental cost of equipment & machinery, electricity costs for irrigation, among others. For 120 days of 1 acre tomato farming, it costs upto Rs 4000 for these expenses.

Rental cost of land per acre

On an average its costs the farmer Rs 6000 in 1 acre tomato cultivation.

Cost of Pesticides per acre

Pesticides include various types of insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, acaricides and nematicides. These are used during various stages of tomato cultivation. Therefore, the cost of pesticides in 1 acre tomato farming comes to Rs 3500.

Cost of harvesting per acre

It costs Rs 500 for harvesting equipment, including labour costs.

Cost of Marketing

Nowadays, many supermarkets and companies are procuring produce directly from the farmer's field. Therefore, there is no marketing cost. However in some areas, farmers have to sell their produce. Since four pickings are done to harvest, the marketing cost in this case falls at Rs. 2500.

The grand total (cost of tomato cultivation in 1 acre) -Rs 30,150

The Mathematics

From 1 acre tomato farming with 4 pickings, the farmer can get a produce of an average 10 tonnes/acre. The average cost of 1kg tomato is Rs 15/kg. Therefore, 15 X 10,000 equals Rs. 1,50,000. Total earning from 1 acre tomato cultivation is Rs 1,50,000.

Profit: Total profit would be the difference in the cost and the benefit or the cost-benefit ration which falls at Rs 1, 19,850.Therefore, the farmer can earn an average of 1,20,000 from 1 acre tomato cultivation or simply Rs 30,000 per month for 4 months.

All this in just 1 acre land!