Evaluating farming practices adopted by tomato farmers in Wakiso district

Abstract

The study is aimed at identifying production adopted by tomato farmers and constraints faced by farmers in major tomato growing areas of Uganda. There was need to identify factors influencing choice of variety grown, land and diseases management practices and challenges faced by tomato farmers. The study was carried out in 3 sub counties in Wakiso district, and a cross sectional research design with descriptive statistics method was also applied to access the data adopted for this study. A sample size of 70 farmers was calculated purposive and random sampling method was applied when selecting the villages and the farms for sample selection. A structured questionnaire was used by to interview farmers and observation of practices to collect data. Information was analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize the means and frequencies of the farmer characteristics and their practices. Linear regression with least square method to study marginal effect of each practice on the yield. Farmers who use chemicals to hinder diseases get more yield compared to farmers who use traditional means like use of ash. The farmers who use urea for longtime get less yield since this depletes soil fertility. The most influencing factors in the choice of variety considered by the farmer included high yield by drought tolerance and market demand. Farmers mentioned price fluctuations, production costs and long drought spells as the major challenges faced during production. The findings showed that the majority of farmers use short varieties (54%). Results revealed that tomato production in Wakiso is dominated by male who grow them on 0.68 acres of land on average. Average tomato yield was 4,356.8 kg/acre lower than the potential yield of 6000kg/acre. 45% farmers market their tomato individually on-farm, 32.8% sell in rural markets, while 22.2% send to the nearest urban markets. The research findings will aid in the development of new market-oriented, highly productive tomato varieties with improved access to seed and designing initiatives to address production and marketing constraints, which will eventually enhance tomato production.