Profile and Problems of Tomato Cultivation in Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh

India is the second largest producer of vegetables with a share of nearly 11 per cent of the total world's vegetable production. Of late, vegetable growing has become main plank of agricultural development strategy in Himachal Pradesh and consequently area under vegetables (excluding potato) has increased to 76.947 thousand hectares producing 1653.506 thousand tonnes in the state. Tomato alone accounts for nearly one-third of total vegetables production in the state. Its cultivation has been extended to mid and low hill areas of Mandi, Kangra, Bilaspur, Hamirpur districts. With this background, the present study was conducted in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. In this district, tomato is the main vegetable crop which contributes about 37 per cent to the total vegetables production. The present study sought to examine the profile and problems of tomato cultivation in Bilaspur district. The study is based on secondary as well as primary data. The area under tomato cultivation in the district has been found to increase from 740 hectares in 2004-05 to 822 hectares in 2016-17. The total production of tomato crop in the district has also shown a significant increase from 25900 tonnes to 31236 tonnes during this period. Area, production and productivity of tomato in Bilaspur district witnessed a growth rate of 0.49, 2.02, and 1.52 per cent per annum, respectively whereas these were 1.68, 4.46, and 2.73 per cent for the state. Regarding problems in tomato cultivation, the non-availability of improved varieties at the time of sowing, lack of awareness about high yielding and disease resistant varieties and lack of storage facilities were the severe problems in the study area. Hence, overcoming these problems and constraints can pave way for increased tomato production in the district.