Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is one of the major fruit vegetables in Nigeria. In view of its seasonal
availability and the need to make it available all-year round, effort must be made to increase efficiency
of its production especially during the dry season. A study was therefore carried out to examine the economics
of dry season tomato production in Kwara state, Nigeria. It estimated the costs and returns and assessed
the technical efficiency of dry season tomato production. A two-stage random sampling technique was
used to select 105 respondents for the study. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from
the respondents. Major tools of analysis used for the study were the gross margin analysis and the stochastic
frontiers model. Results of the study showed that a gross margin of N 18,956.75/ha (US$ 120.74/ha)
was realized from dry season tomato production. Furthermore, the result of the stochastic frontier model
shows that age, education status of the farmers and access to credit had significant effect on the efficiency
of dry season tomato production. This study therefore highlights the need for government to invest in public
education and to make credit available to farmers as a way of reducing the burden of high cost of production.