Abstract:
In sub-saharan Africa tomato is an important vegetable crop. In order to promote tomato
production in Tanzania, the government has undertaken several measures. This study
sought to assess socio-economic and institutional factors that influence productivity
among smallholder farmers in Musoma Municipality. Specifically the study aimed at
assessing productivity of tomato; determining socio-economic factors influencing tomato
productivity, and determining institutional factors that influence tomato productivity. The
study adopted multistage sampling technique in the selection of wards, mitaa and the
respondents. Purposive selection of six wards was done. Second stage involved the
selection of two Mitaa from each Ward. Finally, ten to twelve respondents were randomly
selected from each Mtaa, making a total of 135 respondents. The data were collected by
using structured questionnaire. Focused group discussion and key informant interview
were used to collect qualitative information related to tomato production, input availability
and marketing. The findings show that tomato productivity in Musoma Municipality is
higher than the estimated productivity in Tanzania but lower than the estimated
productivity in Africa and very low than the estimated productivity globally. Factors such
as age, marital status, labour availability, farm size, income, household size, education
level and farming experience were found to highly influence tomato productivity.
Moreover, extension service, access to credit and access to market show statistical
significance with tomato productivity. The study suggests that there should be specific
training programmes through agricultural extension services; inputs subsidization scheme
should be extended to tomato farmers; credit institutions should be established; loans
should be soft and mode of repayment attractive to farmers. There should be organized
market networks and process capital investment credits and the government should
facilitate tomato farmers on value addition to increase their incomes.
