Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is among the most important vegetables grown in Kenya. Its popularity as a commercial crop is on the rise compared to other cash crops like coffee, due to declining land sizes as it can be grown on small-scale. It is mainly grown in the open-field, but the prevalence of greenhouse tomato growing is also noteworthy. Greenhouse tomato production is less susceptible to diseases and weather conditions. However, the uptake of the greenhouse tomato growing technology has been wanting, with the cost of greenhouse installation and maintenance being quoted as the key impediment. But studies in other places have revealed that in the long run, when entire costs and returns are taken into account, use of the technology is economically viable. Using survey data from 216 tomato producers, this study compared the profitability of greenhouse and open-field tomato production systems in Nakuru-North district. The study used Gross margin and Net Profit to determine and compare the profitability levels for both greenhouse and open-field tomato production systems. The results indicate that the mean net profit/m² for greenhouse tomato was more than 10 times higher than that of open-field tomato production system. The study therefore, recommends promotion of greenhouse tomato production for improved smallholder livelihoods.

Keywords:

Greenhouse tomato growing, gross margin, net profit, open-field tomato growing, profitability, small-scale farmer,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.