BRIDGING KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE: GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AWARENESS AND TRAINING WILLINGNESS AMONG TOMATO FARMERS IN FUNAAB MODEL VILLAGES, SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA

The study was conducted to determine the awareness and willingness of tomato farmers to be trained on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for sustainable production of tomato crops. The research was conducted in the university extension model villages in 2024. Probability (simple random) sampling technique was used to select 92 out of 118 registered tomato farmers across the study area. Interview guide was used to collect the data from the respondents. Data were analyzed with the aid of frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation, Chi square statistic and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Findings showed that the mean age of the respondents was 33 years and 78.3% had no formal education. The mean number of tomato harvested per production cycle was 1.02 tons/hectare. Furthermore, tomato cultivation practices used by the respondents was manual (100%), majority (88.0%) sourced their seed from retailers in local market. Result indicated that all (100.0%) of the respondents were not aware of GAPs. Also, all (100.0%) of the respondents indicated their willingness to be trained on GAPs for tomato production. Findings showed that there was significant associations (P≤0.05) between educational status ( =0.98); access to extension services ( =0.90) and willingness to be trained on GAPs. Also, significant relationships exist between age (r=0.86); years of tomato farming experience (r= 0.73) and willingness to be trained on GAPs. Furthermore, significant association (P≤0.05) exists between awareness ( =0.93) and willingness to be trained on GAPs. The study established that socio-economic characteristics such as age, education, access to extension agent, years of farming experience and awareness are key variables to be considered in designing framework model in training tomato farmers on GAPs. The study recommended that the extension arm of the university- Agricultural Media and Research Centre (AMREC), research institutions, State and Federal Ministry of Agriculture should deploy more extension agents to create awareness, educate and conduct regular training on GAPs for the tomato farmers for safe and sustainable production of tomato in Southwest, Nigeria.