Abstract
This paper uses cross-sectional data collected from 126 small scale tomato farmers in the forest, forest-savannah transition and the guinea savannah agro-ecological zones in 2011 to examine the characteristics of tomato based producing households in Ghana. It involved a description of the demographic characteristics of sampled farmers and an investigation of the production practices. This study further investigated the determinants of technical efficiency in tomato production among small scale farmers in Ghana. Descriptive statistics was used to present the characteristics of tomato producing households and the stochastic frontier analysis was used to estimate the determinants of technical efficiency and the inefficiency effect models. Results indicated that majority of the sampled tomato farmers were males. Almost half of the farmers had formal education at least up to the basic level. Almost half of the farmers cultivated tomato in both the major and minor seasons. Most of the varieties cultivated are exotic. Pests and diseases were predominant on the farms of majority of the sampled households. Consequently the use of pesticide to control pests and diseases is very common among sampled household. Our analysis further suggests average technical efficiency of 85.4%. In addition, factors such as extension services, land, frequency of weeding and fertilizer positively influenced technical efficiency of tomato farmers. Conversely, factors such as pesticide, labour and the frequency of pesticide application had negative effects on technical efficiency. The findings reveal the need for an effective and sustainable integrated approach to pest and weed management to enhance technical efficiency and productivity in tomato production. Key words: Tomato, production practice, technical efficiency, stochastic frontier production function, pests, diseases, Ghana.
Highlights
Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum is one of the popular vegetables commonly cultivated by small scale farmers in Ghana (Osei et al, 2010)
This study further investigates the determinants of technical efficiency in tomato production among small scale farmers in Ghana
These results further suggest the age variable has a negative association with technical inefficiency, indicating that older farmers tend to be more inefficient in tomato production
Summary
Solanum lycopersicum is one of the popular vegetables commonly cultivated by small scale farmers in Ghana (Osei et al, 2010). The crop is cultivated continuously throughout the year because apart from the rain-fed system that normally spans between June and November in the southern part of the country, there is the dry-season system between October and April mainly in the north (especially in the Upper East). It is consumed daily by most households as a source of lycopene, vitamins A and C. The abiotic factors are erratic rainfall, high temperature, and poor soils, among others
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