Smallholder farmers’ perception on tomato (solanum lycopersicum) seedling technologies in the north west zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The research was funded by Syngenta Foundation for sustainable Agriculture, Nigeria to ascertain Farmer’s perception on tomato seedlings technology in North West Zone of Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was employed for the selection of One hundred and ninety-five (195) producers of Tomato in Kano and Jigawa States. Data were collected with the aid of a questionnaire. Data obtained were analysed using mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, charts, and graphs. The results of the study revealed that the producers of tomato had a mean age of 38 years, majorly males (86%) with secondary school education (32%), married (88%) with mean household size of 11 persons, mean farming experience, vegetable experience and tomato production experience of 18, 13 and 12 years respectively, mean land cultivated 3ha and mean tomato farm size of 2ha. Maize, sorghum, and rice are the three most cultivated crops by the farmers with tomato and onions as major vegetables. Plum tomato (UTC) variety (34%) is the most widely cultivated during both dry and wet seasons. The study further revealed that 82% of the farmers used recycled seeds to produce seedlings, 88% of the farmers had no extension and advisory service training, 59% made use of seedlings for planting with Plum tomato (UTC) as the common variety, 95% are interested in buying and selling seedlings, and 98% propagated their seeds in the open field. Therefore, it is recommended from the study that public and private’s sector at all levels should strengthen extension service systems to increase farmers’ knowledge and understanding of new tomato production technology-through provision of tomato seedlings technology, frequent trainings and marketing demos establishment to showcase this new innovation, Seed companies should ensure that seed packages contain recommended agronomic practices for all round effectiveness.