Analysis of factors influencing the adoption of tomato post-harvest technologies among smallholder farmers in Katsina state, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analysed the factors influencing the adoption of tomato postharvest technologies among smallholder farmers in Katsina State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 162 smallholder tomato farmers for the study. The data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, means and logit regression. Tomato farmers were predominantly male (85.0%), had a mean age of 39 years, a mean household size of 10 persons and a mean farm size of 0.7 hectares. Limited availability (44%), low capacity (94%), high initial capital (75%) and labour intensive (50.6%) were identified as the major constraints militating against the adoption of the technologies in the study area. The results of the logit regression show that regression coefficients of household size and distance to the nearest market were positive and significant at 1% in influencing the adoption of harvesting at turning stage and Zero Energy Cooling Chamber (ZECC), while age, farming experience, farm size, year of formal education, membership of association, participation in training and extension contacts were positive and significant at 5% for Solar dryer, Harvesting at turning stage, Reusable Plastic Crate (RPC) and ZECC, respectively, where farm size was positive and significant at 10% in the adoption of RPC. Farmers’ socio-economic characteristics had positive and significant influence on the adoption of tomato postharvest technologies in the study area. The study therefore recommended that tomato postharvest technologies such as RPCs and Solar dryer should be made available and accessible to smallholder farmers.