Cost Benefit Analysis of OPV versus Hybrid Processing Tomato Varieties in East Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) is the major horticultural crop with an estimated global production of 164 million metric tons from 4.73 million hectare of land. In Ethiopia, it is an important food ingredient in daily diet of people in almost all regions. The crop is an important cash-generating crop to small-scale farmers and provides employment in the production and processing industries. Despite its importance the productivity of tomato is very low in Ethiopia as compared to other countries. This is due to lack of adaptability study, dissemination of improved varieties to all parts of the country and due to different biotic and abiotic factors. The objective of this study was to identify the Cost Benefit Analysis of OPV versus hybrid processing tomato varieties and to identify opportunity and constraints of tomato production in East Shoa Zone, Ethiopia. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 120 sample tomato producers from Dugda and ATJK districts. Both primary and secondary sources were used for data collection. The primary data was collected through interviewing from 120 sample households using semi-structured questionnaires. Qualitative data were also collected through focus group discussions, and key informant interviews using checklists. STATA version 15 Software was used for data analyzing. To conduct the cost-benefit analysis for this study the most common variety produced were selected (Gelila from hybrid and Gelilema from OPV). As the survey result and experiment conducted for two years indicate that, on average 533.10qt and 484.75qt/ha was produced from hybrid Gelila and OPV Gelilema respectively. As the study result indicate that, the Average gross return was 5,158,093.25birr per hectare for hybrid varieties whereas its 3,835,512.5 birr/ha for OPV tomato varieties suggesting hybrid tomato varieties was superior by 1,333,000 birr/ha than OPV tomato varieties. Even-though net return was higher for hybrid tomato variety, its benefit-cost ratio is lower than OPV tomato variety which is 29.83 for hybrid and 90.27 for OPV tomato variety suggesting better benefit gain from cost incurred for OPV tomato production. The major challenges identified in the study area were shortage of improved seed, high input costs, high production costs, disease and pests; perish ability nature of the products, broker’s interferences, inadequate market information, price fluctuation, high competition from unlicensed traders, and shortage of capital and poor product quality. Therefore, any intervention that addresses the above-mentioned challenges are recommended to solve the problems in the study areas. The farmers get more benefit when they use hybrid variety but benefit-cost ration is high when they use OPV tomato variety suggesting better gain from cost incurred for production. Therefore, an intervention or any extension service through training and field visit should be given for farmers to increase their awareness on profitability of OPV tomato variety.