4 October, Biratnagar. Five years ago, during Dasain, there were 3-4 trees in Bari with lots of tomatoes.

Laxmikumari Thapa Thakuri of Tehrathum Chhathar Rural Municipality-2 picked the fruit and put it on her head and decided to take it to the market. Seeing that, the husband said, "Why are you sad, it won't sell!"

However, she reached the nearby Friday market with her head. Needless to say, that one tomato was sold within a few moments of delivering it to the market and he got about 3 thousand rupees in his hands.

That one tomato sale changed Lakshmi's thinking. She thought that the tree tomato had good potential. Then she placed seeds (dal) from the ripe fruits of the house plants and raised the plants. All the fields that used to grow maize, millet and potatoes are now planted with tomato plants.

She has planted about 1,500 tomato plants on 14-15 acres of land. After planting tomato trees, not only the income has increased, but the terror of wild animals has also stopped.

"Earlier, all the farms were eaten by monkeys, buffaloes and deer. Now that's not the case," she says. "The income is also good."

In turn, she has planted tree tomatoes at a distance of 7-8 feet. Akbare Khorsani has also been planted as an intercrop in the garden.

According to Thakuri, tree tomatoes grow in twelve months. Now in the season it bears a little more. She says that there is no fear of spoilage as the tree tomato remains fresh for a long time after being picked from the plant.

"In one season, about 4.5 lakhs are sold, there is no problem with the market," she says, "Especially because of its pickles, it has not been able to deliver because of the high demand."

According to him, 40 to 50 kg of tomatoes are produced from one plant due to regular pruning and care. After monkeys, deer and deer destroyed the maize crop, other farmers in the village have also started farming after seeing the tree tomato, which started looking for an alternative.

"It will happen because of us, people didn't know before, they used to plant 1-2 plants to eat pickles, and they would bring koseli, it was not more than that," she said.

According to Prakash Limbu of the Friday market, after seeing Lakshmi's hard work, other farmers have also started commercial tree tomato cultivation. As the market is good, the income is also good.

In the first year, she sold 22 quintals of tomatoes at the rate of 85 to 90 rupees per kg. Got a good price last year. She said that by selling up to 125 rupees per kg, she earned more than 4.5 lakh rupees in one season. Tomatoes produced in the first year even reached Hong Kong.

As tree tomatoes bear fruit throughout the year, it has become a good means of regular income. Because pickles and vegetables are made, the demand in the market is high.

He suggested that if you work hard at the local level, you don't have to go abroad. "You have to work hard in any job," she said, "If you take a loan and invest in the right place, it is not difficult to earn money in your own country."

Adhikari is a Biratnagar-based correspondent of Online Khabar.