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Characteristics of Smallscale Tomato Production across Four Counties of Kenya

Harun Odhiambo

The use of certified tomato seed materials has potential for improving food security due to their vigour in growth, early maturity and high yields. The production of high quality, healthy seedlings require the correct choice of variety and standardized nursery agronomic procedures. Tomatoes have high economic significance thus optimum seedling development techniques should be disseminated to farmers for adoption. Since the crop exhibits lower rates of adaptation to the rapidly changing agroecology, its seedlings have drastically reduced yields and increased total production costs rendering farmers poor. Thus, there’s a need to equip farmers with Climate- smart procedures for sustainable production of clean seed materials for higher yields, income and improved livelihoods. Primary knowledge on the commonly adopted cultivation practices such as preferred varieties, production systems and demand for propagation materials by tomato farmers is very critical in developing climate-resilient tomato seed production models. The aims of this study were, therefore: i) To assess the preference levels of various tomato varieties among smallholder farmers in Elgeyo Marakwet, Kajiado, Garissa and Siaya Counties; and ii) To determine the tomato production systems practised by smallholder farmers in Elgeyo Marakwet, Kajiado, Garissa and Siaya Counties.

A situational analysis on preferred tomato varieties and assessment of demand for seed in target Counties (Elgeyo Marakwet, Garissa, Kajiado and Siaya) was conducted from mid-March to end of April 2020. Data on demographics, land management, Seed Supply/ Seed Import information from key stakeholders and types of tomato variety grown were collected from 367 farmers through an in-depth participatory quantitative method using a combination of approaches, methodologies and tools with in-built validation mechanisms.

This involved individual interviews using structured questionnaires on a sample of direct project beneficiaries in the target areas. The data collection tools, sampling frame, sampling technique and sample sizes were developed by KALRO based on the project Terms of Reference. Quantitative data from structured interviews were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, totals, percentages and measures of dispersion).

From the results, 324 (88.28%) of the respondents were individual farmers while 11.72% were group farmers. Kajiado County reported the highest level of participation in this study with a total of 141 respondents, while only 61 respondents were interviewed in Garissa County making this the least number of participants in the survey. Gender segregation in tomato farming had a total of 258 male and 66 female farmers respectively with Siaya County recorded the highest number of female (27) practising tomato farming. The mean age of respondents stood at 39.41 years with the oldest and the youngest respondents being 86 and 18 years old respectively. 139 respondents had acquired basic education (primary level). However, illiteracy levels stood at 1, 21, 18 and 3 in Elgeyo Marakwet, Garissa, Kajiado and Siaya Counties respectively. A range of 1 to 25 acres of land was reported to be under tomato farming, with the largest being 15acres and the smallest being 0.25 acres. A mean of 6.7 years in tomato cultivation was recorded across the 4 Counties which were targeted by the survey. 89.37% of the participants source their seeds from the Agrovets and 5.45% use their seeds (recycled seeds). By the time of this baseline survey, all the 4 Counties had received some form of training and capacity building on tomato production with Kajiado County having the largest count (122) of trained tomato farmers. The number of farmers satisfied with the available tomato seed materials was higher than those unsatisfied across the 4 target Counties. Staking of tomatoes was popular with farmers from Elgeyo Marakwet (64), Siaya (98) and Garissa (59). However, 71% of farmers from Kajiado practised practice non-staking production system. Out of the10 common tomato varieties across the 4 counties, Rio grande is the most preferred tomato variety.