Analysis of Financial Profitability of Tomato Growers in Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analyzed the financial profitability of tomato growers in Taraba State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; examine the factors influencing tomato production; estimate tomato growers' profitability; and discover limitations impeding tomato production in the research area. Purposive, snowball, and simple random procedures were employed in the selection of the tomato growers. Data were collected via structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to generate data from 150 respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, budgeting techniques and multiple regression analysis. The result of the study revealed that most of the farmers were educated with mean schooling years of 5 and had reasonable mean farming experience of 10 years. The results also showed that majority of the farmers have attended training with a mean of 6 times training in a year. The finding indicated that land, fertilizer and cost of irrigation were the factors that influence tomato production. The result further pointed that tomato production is a profitable venture with a cost benefit ratio of 2.26. The result also established that high cost of input was the major constraints militating against tomato production. Based on this finding it was recommended that input such as fertilizer should be made available to the farmers at a subsidized rate by both private sector and government. Tomato farmers should be educated on how to tackle pest and disease associated with tomato production.