Rourkela, Aug. 20: Farmers in Sundargarh are beginning to prefer cash crops such as tomato and capsicum to paddy.

"I have sown only that much of paddy which will sustain me for the year and grow tomato and capsicum on the rest of my land," said Nuagaon resident Budhun Ekka, who owns three acres. Ekka's income has increased substantially since he began cultivating these crops instead of paddy.

Last year, he had made a profit of more than Rs 60,000.

This trend is not only confined to Nuagaon. Kutra resident Sandip Majhi, who has completed his BA from Sambalpur, has returned to help his father in vegetable farming.

This December, the plan is to produce tomato and capsicum on a large scale. "The desi or indigenous variety of tomato and capsicum have good market all over the country," said agricultural equipment manufacturer J.K. Patra, who has an industrial unit in Kalunga industrial estate. Patra is in talks with some landowners at Nuagaon and near Rajgangpur to avail himself of land on lease. "I want to produce drumsticks on permanent basis, along with tomato and capsicum," he said.

These vegetables are in demand right from Bangalore to Punjab. "These produces have more demand than the local ones," he said.

Rajendra Agarwal and his brother had been producing watermelon with seeds imported from Thailand. However, they are now planning to concentrate on tomato and capsicum. "We found the demand for the two in many places, even in Bengal," said Agarwal.

Patra, who plans to cultivate drumstick, said: "This is a very cash-rich product, and one can grow other vegetables along with this as I have seen in Tamil Nadu. So, I will try to do that as well."

Over the years, Nuagaon and its nearby areas have come to be known as the land of capsicum.

"We take the best ones and the inferior ones go to you," said Narayana Krishna Reddy from Trisur with a smile. Reddy comes twice or thrice a year to this area and keep his supply chain network healthy back in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Now, he is planning to go to other areas of the district where these two crops are produced on a large scale.

This year's monsoon, which has been moderate, has encouraged the farmers. "I am satisfied with the rainfall, and there will be enough water for us everywhere, including the bore wells and rivers," said Bimal Lakra of Titrerkela.

The only problem other than an efficient irrigation system is the absence of cold storages. There is only one private cold storage which is of small size and only let out to store fruits.

"We need cold storages, so that we can also sell our products locally when the demand goes up," said Amit Pradhan, who stays near Riun. He has completed his MBA and now plans to devote his full time to agriculture. "I did agriculture marketing during my internship and gained some basic knowledge about it," said Pradhan.

In Rourkela, the indigenous variety of tomato sells between Rs 25 and Rs 40 a kilogram while capsicum sells between Rs 60 and Rs 80 a kilogram.