An Analysis of Constraints That Affect Smallholder Farmers in the Production of Tomatoes in Ga-Mphahlele, LepelleNkumbi Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Theaim of this study was to analyse production constraints that often limit the profit and production of tomatoes in Mphahlele. This study used both primary and secondary data collection. The secondary data was collected using structured questionnaires and secondary data was collected using document review of journal articles, internet and books. A stratified sampling method was used to select the respondents. From a population of 43 smallholder farmers in Mphahlele village, 20 smallholder farmers were randomly selected. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the demographic information of the farmers. A linear regression model was used to determine the impact of the selected variables to gross margin (dependent variable). Selected variables include age, gender, level of education, number of years in farming and farm size. From the regression analysis age, farm size and number of years in farming were found to have a positive influence on the gross margin. This means an increase in the age, farm size and number of years in farming will increase tomato production and profit. The two variables found to have a negative influence to gross margin were level of education and gender. These findings underscore the important role of extension officers in providing agriculture information to smallholder farmers.