Tomato is one of the most important fruit vegetable crops in Ethiopia supporting the livelihood and improving the economic life of many farmers in the country. Despite the importance of the crop, the productivity of crop is low due to poor production management factors such as limitation on availability of pesticides and fungicides, limitation to access information, market fluctuation, and shelf life of the crop. The study was undertaken in western Oromia to understanding major factors affecting tomato production of smallholder farmers. It was based on the cross-sectional data collected from 135 randomly selected farmers. Descriptive statistics and inferential test tools were applied for data analysis. The result depicted that the productivity of tomato was significantly influenced by the use of labor, oxen power, fertilizer, and pesticides. Other important factors such as gender, education, family size, off/non-farm activities, farm experience, livestock holding, extension access, credit access, and market/traders information were affected positively tomato productivity while age and field distance were affected negatively. The variety and biotic factors affected the tomato productivity of smallholder farmers. The findings will be helpful for tomato producers, government extension, research centers, and private companies to enhance the economic life of tomato growers.

Keywords: Factors, tomato productivity, smallholder farmers, Bako Tibe and Guto Gida