Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 24 ISSUE 3
Written by Manan ASLAM, Hamza AKHTAR, Mudassar YASIN, Muhammad Ali IMRAN, Mahboob RIAZ
Many vegetables are grown throughout Pakistan's provinces, but tomatoes, potatoes, cauliflower and onions are among the most common ones. Pakistan has a 150 thousand acres of tomato farming, producing 57094 tonnes of tomatoes per year, making it the world's 35th largest producer. Due to importance of tomatoes in our daily routine, there is need to explore marketing system of tunnel grown tomatoes, analyze current marketing margins, as well as to quantify the impact of significant variables affecting marketed surplus of tomatoes. The study was confined to areas of the district Lodhran because there is an increasing trend to produce tomatoes by using tunnel system in the region. Then Lodhran tehsil was chosen purposively. After selecting region then 100 tomato farmers (50 tunnel growers and 50 non tunnel growers), 20 commission agents, 20 wholesalers, 20 retailers, and 100 tomato consumers were chosen as sampled respondents. Convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample. The frequencies and percentage of sampled respondents was calculated by using descriptive statistics. The impact of factors affecting tunnel tomato growers' marketed surplus was determined by using multiple regression analysis. The regression results showed that the selected traits (experience, area, marketing cost, sale price, and distance from the output market) are influencing significantly on the marketed surplus. So, both public and private sectors should engage to organize and rain the tomato farmers regarding tunnel farming in the region.