Tomato Production Constraints at Bontanga Irrigation Project in the Northern Region of Ghana

Tomato production in the Bontanga irrigation area has reduced drastically. Thus, a study was conducted to identify the problems. Structured and unstructured questionnaires were administered to 50 farmers randomly selected from about 90 farmers in the study area for two years. The results showed that 60% of the farmers were illiterates and 20% had formal education. Over 70% of the farmers obtained their seed from markets and unregistered agro-stores and the remaining use their reserved seeds. Most of the farmers practice continuous sole cropping and very few crop rotations. The fanners also indicated lack of credit facilities as the major bane of tomato production. About 90% of the farmers complained of salinity, water logging, soil erosion and degradation, sedimentation, build up of pests and diseases as a result of irrigation related problems. Formation of fanners cooperatives or group will help solve or minimize the constraints of dwindling tomato production in this area.