The Effect Of Water Application Timings On Yield, Water Use Efficiency And Profitability Of Roma Tomato VF Cultivar Grown Under Plastic Bottle Drip Water Irrigation System In Nyagatare District, Rwanda

Abstract

The present study was aimed to assess the effect of water application timings on yield, water use efficiency and profitability of Roma tomato Vf cultivar grown under plastic bottle drip water irrigation system. Four treatments were used for the experiment, replicated four (4) times and arranged in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each replication plot contains 4 experiment units and 64 experiment units for entire experiment field of 4 plots.  The results showed that the total benefit for the first year is 2,135,250.00 Rwf and the incremental benefit for the first year was -2,882,800.00 Rwf. The study findings showed that the net present value (NPV) was positive 51,821.63 at 30 per cent discount rate and has negative value at a discount rate of 31% with the NPV of (6,098.46), which indicates the financial soundness of the investment on Roma tomato production under greenhouse. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) was found higher than the cost of capital which was 30.89% hence the Roma tomato production project under greenhouse is worthwhile to undertake. The Benefit cost ratio of the tomato production under greenhouse subjected to plastic bottle irrigation system was 1.0 greater than 1.  So, it is concluded that tomato farming under greenhouse subjected to plastic bottle irrigation system is highly profitable, that is 1.01 times the investment. The profitability index calculated was 2.83.  The PI is greater than 1 which shows that the Roma tomato production under plastic bottle drip irrigation system is always a profitable project. Based on the findings achieved in this study, where we examined the cost and profitability of greenhouse cultivation under plastic bottle drip irrigation system, we conclude that greenhouse farming yielded better results in terms of economic indicators.