Crop losses, especially along the post-harvest food supply chain, have been identified as one of the major causes of food shortage problems in most developing countries and in Nigeria in particular. Vegetable farmers such as those that grow tomatoes often record great amount of produce loss which translates to a waste of resources, a reduction in their income and ultimately their welfare. This study examined the effects of post-harvest losses on the welfare of 107 tomato farmers in Ogbomosho selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The analytical tools used in the study include descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and regression model. Results revealed that majority of the tomato farmers were male, married and had no formal education. The average gross margin values of N3, 229.45 and N72, 905.80 were obtained with and without post-harvest losses for the tomato farmers respectively. This implied a 95.5% post-harvest loss incurred by the farmers. Household size and the total value of post-harvest losses were found to significantly affect the per-capita income and hence welfare of the tomato farmers negatively. The study recommends that farmers engaged in tomato production be adequately trained on post-harvest crop handling techniques. In addition, priority should be given to investment in post-harvest processing technologies and establishment of processing industries especially in the production areas.
Key words: Post-harvest loss, tomato, welfare, farmers, Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
Global efforts in the fight against hunger to raise farmers’ income and improve food security especially in the world’s poorest countries should give priority to the issue of crop losses (FAO, 2010). Th...
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...struggling to earn any income at all and sometimes do not even get the opportunity to eat. Another issue that Raj Patel did not touch on is the lack of care consumers have for the farmers. It seems that consumers care about farmers about as much as the corporations do, which, in my opinion, is not a lot. When consumers only care about low prices and large corporations only care about making a profit, the farmers are left out to dry. Many consumers believe “food should be available at a bargain price, a belief that relies on labor exploitation and environmental exhaustion at multiple points along the commodity chain.” (Wright, 95) Corporations as well as consumers generally tend to be selfish and I think Raj Patel is afraid to mention this. If only these people cared a little bit more about each other I believe the hourglass of the food system will begin to even out.
With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
Looking back at the role tomatoes plays in our daily lives we see that the financial survival of the indigenous migrants of Mexico is tied to the vegetable farms of the United States and Mexico. Their lack of local employment leads to an endless cycle of poverty and pain for them and their children as migrant pickers. As producer, packer and supplier A&W provides the logistics from field to market for total accountability of product quality and cost. We have seen that the tomatoes represent not only an important cash commodity for farmers and retailers, but it’s also one of the most important food staple in our daily meals. The tomato farms of Mexico provides much needed employment for the migrant pickers as well as health issues, low wages, discrimination and poverty.
Agriculture is the primary livelihood strategy for 85% of the rural population in developing regions (Quinion et al. 2010). One method that is being used in Africa i...
In this study we assess the potential role that the banana value chain can play in reducing poverty and eliminating hunger among rural and urban poor in Uganda and Tanzania. We provide a comprehensive analysis of banana consumption and productivity in the two countries and we scope the challenges and opportunities for providing more efficient and enhanced production and marketing focusing on smallholder enterprises along the commodity value chain.
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As the global population continues to rise, the amount of food needed to feed the people will increase as well. Two types of agriculture systems have been the backbone for crop production for decades if not centuries: conventional and organic agriculture— both methods could not be any more different. Conventional agriculture, a method that uses synthetic chemical pesticides, technologies or additives, and practices that are unsustainable is the leading producer for our food. On the other side of spectrum, organic agriculture generally, performed in a much smaller scale, does not use synthetic chemicals and utilize methods that are environmentally sound. Most conventional
Asare, R., & David, S., (2011): Good agricultural practices for sustainable cocoa production: a guide for farmer training. Manual no. 1: Planting, replanting and tree diversification in cocoa systems, Sustainable tree crops programme, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Accra, Ghana.
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