Economic Analysis of Tomato Production Efficiency in Kajiado County, Kenya
Loading...
Date
2023-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Tomato is the most important vegetable in the horticultural sub-sector in Kenya for provision of income and employment to many rural households hence pivotal to poverty reduction. Despite its potential, tomato productivity remaing low, The government and other stakeholders in the tomato value chain have developed and promoted utilization of technologies, innovations and management practices with empirical data showing significant adoption at the farm level. These interventions have led to increase in the total tomato production output but the productivity is still lower than the potential average, Hence the need to investigate the contribution of production inefficiencies in the yield gap. Enhanced efficiencies in technology use will lead to increased productivity. This study contributes to the existing knowledge gap by analyzing tomato production efficiency in Kajiado County. The objectives of this study were to characterize smallholder tomato producers, analyze the technical, allocative, economic cfficiency and determine factors influencing tomato production efficiency. The study applied cross sectional survey design and the formula by Kothari was used to determine the sample size of 150 smallholder farmers using multistage techniques. Primary data was collected using semi structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze characteristics of the smallholder producers while stochastic production frontier model was used to evaluate the technical, allocative and economic efficiency. Tobit regression model was used to assess the determinants of production efficiency. The results revealed that tomato farming was dominated by male (81%) with a mean age of 46 years. Most farmers (93%) had attained the formal level of education while 88% had more than five years of farming experience whereas sale of crop produce was their main source of income, Few farmers (41%) were members of the farmers marketing organizations and their credit uptake was low (43 percent). The average land arca under tomato production was 1.3 acres with few (46%) farmers using improved hybrid tomato varieties while most farmers depended on hired labour (88%). There was underutilization of the fertilizers but overuse of the pesticides and labour beyond the recommended levels. Tomato output was found to be 9.5 metric tonnes per acre. The mean TE, AE and EE were estimated to be 47.2%, 75.8% and 35.8% respectively. Averagely, tomato farmers could reduce their inputs by 48% while maintaining the same output by enhancing TE, reduce 22% of the cost by using inputs in optimal proportions by enhancing AE and save 63% of the total cost by improving EE. Higher level of education, experience in farming and membership in the farmer’s organization, access to extension and credit significantly influenced production efficiency. The study recommends the government and other actors to upscale provision of extension services to the farmers on efficient use of technologies and practices encourage farmers to adopt recommended rates of farm inputs and increase use of improved hybrid tomato varieties. Farmers are encouraged to form marketing organizations to facilitate acquisition of inputs, credit and enhance peer learning that were found to significantly influence production efficiencies.
Description
A Research Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Science (Agribusiness Management and Trade) in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Science of Kenyatta University, June 2023.
Supervisor
Gabriel W. Mwenjeri
Ibrahim N, Macharia