Potential for tomato plant growth

Previously, tomatoes in our country were mainly produced in the winter crop (main crop), with a short supply period. From 1997-2000, the first "revolution" in domestic tomato production occurred with the introduction of heat-resistant hybrid tomato varieties that could be grown in many seasons of the year.

Since then, tomato production in the North has been implemented in the summer-autumn, autumn-winter (early crops), winter (main crop), spring-summer (late crop). Fresh tomato products supplied to the market last from the beginning of October to the beginning of July of the following year. That is a huge progress.

Although imported hybrid tomato varieties are increasingly abundant in our country, occupying the majority of tomato growing areas in the North, domestically produced hybrid tomato varieties of the "HT" brand still demonstrate better heat and humidity tolerance, with outstanding advantages over imported varieties in extremely early and early planting seasons.

Up to now, tomato plants in our country are still mainly considered as spice plants with low consumption, so they have not become a large production base, although we have many advantages in developing this crop.

That is because the vast majority of tomato production areas use imported hybrid varieties. These varieties have many advantages but still have some disadvantages such as long growth cycles, late ripening, and are not suitable for the strict crop rotation structure of the North.

Furthermore, most of the imported hybrid tomato varieties grown in production today have low consumer quality (because imported high-quality varieties are not suitable for the climate and characteristics of spreading crops in the North).

Through many years of research, our hybrid tomato breeding project has attempted to create varieties that overcome the disadvantages of imported varieties.

Imported varieties that can be grown in early and late seasons (spread over crops) are not of high quality; when quality increases, they can only be grown in the main season (favorable), have a long growth period, are not suitable for the crop rotation structure in the North, are difficult to develop on a large scale and limit the time to supply products.

On the contrary, high-quality hybrid tomato varieties created by the Center for Research and Development of High-Quality Vegetable Varieties not only have high yields but can also be grown in many seasons: early, late, main season, fast ripening, the growth cycle and fruit harvest are suitable for the crop rotation structure in the North to develop large areas.

Up to now, among more than 10 hybrid tomato varieties created by our Center, there are 5 outstanding high-quality varieties, including nationally recognized varieties such as: HT42, HT160 (large fruit group), HT144 (small fruit group) and some other experimentally produced varieties, highly appreciated by consumers.

For example: The small-fruit hybrid tomato variety HT144 has high yield, can be grown in autumn-winter, winter-spring, and summer, has a long supply time, has high consumer quality, and in addition to being eaten fresh, it also meets the requirements of raw materials for canned whole fruit for export.

Currently, the production area of ​​HT144 tomato variety is growing, providing the main raw material for large export canning factories. Many other high-quality tomato products are also being expanded in the market...

For our country, tomatoes in general are a familiar product, but high-quality tomatoes are a new product. When consumers have access to high-quality tomato products, consumption will increase dramatically.

At that time, tomatoes showed their true leading position among vegetables, because: First, in addition to their high nutritional value for human health, they are also a popular food with medicinal value such as enhancing the purification process, preventing and limiting cancer... (this is very important in the current problematic living environment).

Second, high-quality tomatoes can produce many consumer products (fresh, stir-fried, processed, canned, etc.), are easy to transport long distances, and can be kept fresh for a long time after harvest, making them very convenient for circulating, distributing, and consuming products in very large quantities, not only domestically but also internationally with a long product supply time throughout the year.

Furthermore, tomatoes are a crop that can easily be applied with safe production technology, providing a large volume of safe, high-quality products (eaten fresh) for a large number of consumers.

In the Northern provinces (mainly the Northern Delta and midland), when using domestically produced high-quality hybrid tomato varieties and advanced production technology processes achieved in the crop seasons, we can provide a large volume of products for processing and consuming fresh fruit from about November 15 to the end of June of the following year (7.5 months of product supply in a 1-year cycle).

Of which, about 3.5 - 4 months (or more) provide high quality, safe products for fresh consumption in very large quantities.

The Northern Delta and midlands of our country are famous for producing high-quality vegetables that taste better than other regions. Our strength in producing large quantities of high-quality tomatoes with the above-mentioned product supply time coincides with the period when the North is more scarce in fruits, helping to increase the consumption of high-quality tomatoes.

This strength is especially relevant to the long cold winter period of the Northern countries (fresh vegetables cannot be produced by conventional technology, so the products are rare and expensive). Therefore, the export market for high-quality tomatoes from the North of our country is extremely large.

Producing high-quality tomatoes has created a stable job for many farmers in the northern provinces, creating many jobs in the crop seasons with high income almost all year round.

Just counting one crop of high-quality tomatoes (with current advances in varieties and production technology), on average, farmers sell 1 hectare of products at the collection point, after deducting the cost of materials, for an income of about 190 - 230 million VND. This includes the labor of the producer and net profit. If the labor cost is deducted, the net profit can be 70 - 100 million VND/ha/crop.

High-quality tomato production creates many businesses, product consumption services for farmers and processing of various types of products to supply the domestic market and export stably, creating many jobs for workers, high income for businesses and developing the national economy. High-quality tomato production brings great chain value.

The most difficult problem is researching and creating new scientific and technological products (variety sets and technological processes for producing high-quality tomatoes) which have been solved and continue to be developed, thereby creating a step forward for the development of new commodity production:

- Nature has given us a land famous for producing high quality vegetables. We need to protect the valuable agricultural land areas that have been created over thousands of years, to exploit them for sustainable development without affecting food security.

- The times have given us the ability to consume high quality tomato products in large quantities in the domestic and world markets.

- Millions of farmers and workers in businesses are looking forward to having jobs with increased income.

Everything is already present, only the participation of organizations, a determination of the state to implement, investment in research and development, construction of field infrastructure and production organization... In reality, we have been delayed for several years.

Once the program is urgently implemented, it is possible that by 2020 - 2021 our country will become a high-quality tomato exporting powerhouse. And when production reaches the designed scale, in addition to domestic consumption, the export turnover of high-quality tomato products will bring us a large source of income.

According to (NNVN) – LC