Promoting Sustainable Postharvest Practices of Tomato through Different Media Communications in Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigates promoting food security and sustainable post-harvest quality and shelf life of tomato through different media communications in Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 60 respondents. The results revealed that the respondents in the study area practice subsistence farming, age category of 31-40 years constitute the majority with 66.7% while 51-60 years were the least with 5%. Also, 25(41%) had 11-15 years of experience, which contribute immensely toward quality production. Thirty (30) respondents with 50% had secondary levels of education, followed by primary 20(33.3%) that made them to be able to read and write. Radio broadcast was the best communication media to the farmers followed by television programs. The (r =0.535) recorded 53.5% of the variation in the output or quality. Two input variety and media were statistically significant in output and quality at 5% level of significance. Based on the result from the finding, it is recommended that more financial facility should be extended to farmers and training should be organised to farmers, to increase awareness, acceptance and embraced the new technology to boost productivity and quality.