Abstract
Tomato is one of the most commonly grown vegetables in Malawi. However, considerable attention has not been given for its production and marketing aspects among smallholder farmers. Therefore, this study was conducted in six major tomato growing districts in Malawi with the objective of identifying production and marketing practices and constraints affecting tomato productivity. Semi structured questionnaires were administered to 404 respondents comprising 368 farmers and 36 input suppliers and data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that male dominated tomato farming in the study area. It further revealed that 27.2% had post primary school education, 65.5% attended primary school education and 7.3% had no formal education. The survey indicated that 95.9% of respondents grow tomatoes in an open field and very few use tunnel/greenhouses (4.1% of the respondents). The survey results identified four major production constraints: pests, diseases, marketing and input cost. Red spider mite and bacterial wilt were identified as major pest and disease, respectively. Regarding marketing of tomatoes, the major constraint is price fluctuations. Major problems faced by input suppliers included lack of capital (27.8% of respondents). These findings indicate urgent need to invest heavily in promotion of tomato production and marketing. Key words: Diseases, farmers, tomato, pest, production, questionnaire.
Highlights
Tomato is an important vegetable in Malawi
Results of the present study show that 74.7% of the farmers had been into tomato production for less than 10 years and this implies that they have less experience in tomato production
The study findings show that majority of respondents (59.5%) use chemicals to control pests and diseases and about 39.4% of the respondents indicated that they use a combination of different control methods with the use of cultural and chemical being dominant as compared to combined use of cultural and biological or biological and chemical control
Summary
Tomato is an important vegetable in Malawi. It is grown throughout the year both for cash and food. It is widely consumed due to its high nutritive value. Tomato production in Malawi is dominated by poorly resourced smallholder farmers and relatively advanced semicommercial farmers who practice protected cultivation using greenhouses (Nyondo et al, 2018). The current production levels of tomato in Malawi fail to satisfy local demand in terms of volume and quality. The total area under cultivation is estimated at 30,361 hectares (ha) and yield at 20.7 metric tonnes per hectare (mt/ha) (MoA, 2020). Field trials by the Department of Agriculture Research Services (DARS) in Malawi indicate that yields could potentially be increased to 50 mt/ha with adherence to recommended practices
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