Abstract

Postharvest losses of tomato in Nigeria are high due to poor postharvest handling activities. Attitude of openfield farmers towards postharvest handling activities of tomato in Kano state was examined. Multistage sampling procedure (purposive and random sampling) was used to select 213 tomato farmers. Interview schedule was used to obtain data on respondents? personal and enterprise characteristics as well as their attitudinal disposition towards postharvest handling activities of tomato. Age of open-field farmers was 47.7?7.6 years, majority (92.0%) of the open-field farmers were married with 16.8?6.9 years of farming experience. Larger percentage (66.2%) of openfield farmers inherited their farmland and majority (74.2%) of openfield farmers generated their working capital through personal savings. Majority (60.1%) of openfield farmers were not favourably disposed to postharvest handling activities of tomato. Majority (54.9%) of open-field farmers incurred high rate of tomato postharvest losses. There was significant relationship (r = -0.152, p<0.05) between openfield farmers? attitude towards postharvest handling activities of tomato and the rate of postharvest losses incurred. The study therefore recommends that, since attitude and rate of postharvest losses are correlated, government and other NGOs should organise seminars and training on postharvest handling activities for openfield farmers to influence their attitudinal disposition towards postharvest handling activities of tomato to ensure reduction in the rate of tomato losses for improved rural livelihood and adequate food security.

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