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Assessment of Training and Information Needs of Tomato Marketers in Nigeria

Oluyemisi Adebisi-Adelani*

Marketing of tomato is crucial to ensure sustainability of the value chain. It has been noted that for continuous growth in the supply chain of tomato, training and information needs of stakeholders should be adequately addressed. The study therefore examined tomato marketers training and information needs. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 182 marketers from Oyo, Nasarawa, Katsina and Ogun states. Data were collected through interview guide and Focus Group Discussion and were analysed using frequency counts and percentages. Results revealed that most of the marketers interviewed were males (84.6%), married (92.3%), literate (75.8%) and were members of association (68.1%). Majority of the marketers were operating at retail level (48.9%) and source produce from farmers (69.2%). Major areas of information needs include health and nutritional importance (64.8%), source of credit (61.5%), preservation and storage (59.9%). The most important challenge was lack of storage facilities (62.1%) and perishability of produce (61.1%) while the least constraint was inadequate grading (37.9%). The study recommends capacity development on method of processing and preservation to reduce the losses being experienced in the supply chain.