New tomato varieties bloom in Himachal

Not only will these tomato hybrid varieties be redder and larger, they will also last much longer and grow in plenty.

Two new hybrid tomato varieties have been developed by farmers of the Parmar Horiculture University in Himachal Pradesh, and could set a tomato revolution in the terraced fields of the mid hills across the country.

"Named 'Solan Sindoor' and 'Solan Garima', these two varieties can be grown at altitudes ranging from 1200 m to 1600 m, and will produce around 60 tons of the vegetable per hectare," said scientist UKKohli, head of the vegetable department of the Parmar university, some 65 km from here.

"While 'garima' was developed some months ago and has impressed everyone by its trials, 'sindoor' has just been developed by the scientists of the univeristy," Kohli told Business Standard.

The seeds of these two hybrid varieties will soon be available to farmers for growing, say university officials.

Since these varieties can be grown in the mid-hills, farmers from other hill states are also expected to reap benefits.

The Solan district produces a bulk of the tomatoes in Himachal and is often called the 'tomato bowl' of the hill state.

Tomato is a highly perishable fruit and rarely lasts even a week here often causing losses to farmers. But these latest varieties will easily last atleast two weeks, giving enough time for trnasporting them to markets far and wide.