Economics of Tomato Production on Ogbuoji Farm in Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State

Abstract

The study analyzed the economics of tomato production on Ogbuoji farm, in Edda local government area of Ebonyi state. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristic of tomato farmers, estimate the resource use efficiency in tomato production, identify the constraint associated with tomato production and  analyze the profitability of tomato production on Ogbuoji farm. Random sampling was employed to sample 48 respondents who constituted the sample size. Data were collected primarily using structured questionnaire and analyzed with the aid of descriptive, stochastic frontier production function and cost-benefit ratio. The results showed that young farmers were single, educated, experienced and fairly large-scale farmers. Price of labour (1%), price of seeds (5%), price of irrigation (5%), price of capital (1%), price of fertilizer (10%), price of stock (10%) and farm size (1%) were  the major predictors of production but Seed and labour resources was effectively utilized. Pest and diseases greatly constrained the farmers in the production of tomatoes in the study area. The study therefore recommended that all the resource variables must be considered when designing a technological package for tomato production and should be further exploited to improve productivity level of the farmers in the study area.