Socio-economic determinants of off-season summer tomato cultivation

ABSTRACT

Off-season summer tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivation in the tropics can return economic benefits to farmers. The study was undertaken to identify determinants of off-season tomato cultivation employing a double hurdle regression model. A total of 250 farmers from south-west Bangladesh were interviewed during November–December 2018. Initial adoption decision was positively influenced by higher levels of education, number of days in training, and income, while the level of adoption was influenced by availability of adult family member, access to formal credit, and income. Diversifying household income sources and improving access to financial institutions could increase the adoption level of off-season summer tomato.

KEYWORDS:

• Adoption
• Bangladesh
• double hurdle model
• farming
• vegetable

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Social Science Research Council, planning division, Ministry of Planning, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, for financial support. The authors thank the farmers and enumerators for their co-operation and help.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science Research Council, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning, People’s Republic of Bangladesh.