Assessment of information and training needs of tomato producers in northern states of Nigeria

Abstract

To achieve sustainable growth in tomato value chain, evaluation of the critical needs of actors in the chain is imperative. The study therefore examined personal characteristics, training, information needs and production challenges of tomato producers in Kano and Katsina states. Primary data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. All respondents were male, 91.8 per cent married, about 73.6 per cent were below 50 years old and 51.0 per cent had more than four family size. Farming was the major occupation of respondents (93.1%). The predominant farming system practices include mixed farming (42.8%), mixed cropping (35.8%) and sole cropping (18.9%). Most of the producers were cultivating 1–5 ha (45.9%). Yield range of 26–40 t/ha was realized by 61.7 per cent of producers. The major sources of information on tomato production among respondents were radio (48.4%), friends (30.2%) and extension agents (28.3%). The most important Information needs were on credit/loan procurement (69.8%), marketing channels (64.8%), processing and harvesting of tomatoes (57.9%), weather (56.6%) and health/nutrition (56.6%). Whereas, the most important training needs were on safe use of agro-chemicals (85.5%), storage of seeds and fruits (82.4%), nursery preparation techniques and weather (79.9%), weed management (78.6%). Challenges experienced by the respondents were on pest and disease infestation (98.1%), high cost of planting materials and farm chemicals (95.0%), high transportation cost (93.7%), high labour cost (89.9%) and inadequate storage facilities (89.3%). The study recommends intervention in the areas of needs in order to achieve meaningful development in the tomato value chain.