Determinants of Tomato Farmers Participation in Agricultural Services and Training Centre (ASTC) Activities

Abstract

Agricultural production have remained rudimentary despite many years‘ of technology development and transfer; to reverse this declining trend, several agricultural policies and programmes aimed at ensuring sustainable production, improved income and farm expansion with added value output have become very germane. This study therefore analyzed tomato farmers‘ participation in ASTC activities in Jos-south local Government Area of Plateau state, Nigeria. This study adopted multi stage sampling techniques. Primary was data collected from 80 respondents, during the 2017/2018 farming season and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, participation index, weighted average index analysis and Binary Logit regression. The result of the study revealed that 73.8% were male; 88.75% had access to extension contact. The estimated mean for educational training, household size, farm income and farming experience were 6 years; 8 people; ₦108,500/ha and 12 years respectively. Also, most (68.7%) of the farmers have low participation index of ≤0.45; this trend is responsible for the existing low farm productivity of this crop in the area. Furthermore, the benefits derived from participating in ASTC activities among the respondents were significant as indicated by their weighted average index. In addition, the estimated coefficient of multiple determination (R2) was 0.7602. Also, the coefficients of household size (0.421), education (0.559), experience (0.808), income (0.485) and extension contact (0.376) were statistically significant; implying that these factors in the regression model affected the likelihood of farmer‘s decision to participate in ASTC activities. Adequate labour supply; establishment of pilot farms; capacity training; access to agricultural credit, extension services, agro service centres, agricultural information, input supply and cooperative formation are strongly recommended.