FARMERS’ KNOWLEDGE LEVEL AND READINESS IN ADOPTION OF DRAGON FRUIT (HYLOCEREUS SP.) IN CHITWAN DISTRICT, NEPAL

Dragon fruit is a new commodity in case of Nepal and any new commodity itself comes with a lot of challenges as well as opportunities. Before rapid commercialization of any commodity, the perception of the farmers regarding the commodity and the knowledge level of the farmers regarding the commodity must be known. Only after identifying the perception of the farmers and underlying problems of the adoption, strategies can be adopted accordingly to solve the problems and uplift the crop. Knowledge level of the farmers regarding Dragon fruit and their readiness in adoption was studied along with it hinderance factors for the adoption of the crop was also identified. Farmers under the pocket area of Dragon fruit formed by the PMAMP, Nepal were taken into the study who hadn’t adopted the crop till date. Knowledge index was used to calculate the knowledge level of the farmers regarding the crop and 5-point Likert scale was used for analyzing the readiness level of the farmers towards the adoption of the crop. Majority of the farmers were found to have very poor knowledge level i.e., 66.67% of the farmers whereas 28.34% had fair knowledge level and only 5% had good knowledge level regarding various aspects of the crop. Correlating with the knowledge index was the readiness level with only 31.67% of the farmers being above the threshold readiness level. Finally, while opting out the hinderance factors of the adoption of the crop, lack of promising market, high cost of cultivation, lack of proper knowledge and training were found to be major problems ranked as first, second and third respectively. This study points out the huge requirement of improvement in the sector of market security, insurance policies, credit interventions, government subsidies, training programs and involvement of extension workers.

VALUE-CHAIN ANALYSIS OF GINGER SUB-SECTOR IN SOLUKHUMBU DISTRICT, NEPAL

Survey research was carried out on Value Chain Analysis of Ginger Sub-Sector in Solukhumbu district with an objective of finding the value chain of ginger in Solukhumbu district of Nepal. Household level data from 60 household from Necha-Salyan rural municipality and Thulung Dudhkoshi rural municipality were sampled using random sampling technique. Few Local traders, wholesaler and retailers were also interviewed. Average area under ginger cultivation was found 2.35 ropani. Average cost of production per ropani was Rs. 14450.38 and majority of production cost of the production was covered by seed. The productivity of ginger in study area was 8.22 Mt/ha which was lower than national average and higher than the district productivity. The average price of the fresh ginger was Rs. 85.63/kg and Rs.200/kg for the dried ginger. Price fluctuation, lack of proper market, white grub, rhizome rot, lack of road access were the major problems for ginger grower in Solukhumbu District. Despite many problems, ginger cultivation in the study area was profitable business with B/C ratio 2.37 and B/C ratio of dried ginger was 1.13. Most of the sampled farmers were involved in the farming for their livelihood. Improved cultivation practices with recommended variety, timely plantation and seed treatment, simple processing like cleaning, sorting and grading are of immediate need to generate additional income to the producer.

A DETAIL EVIEW ON STATUS AND PROSPECT OF MAIZE PRODUCTION IN NEPAL

Maize ranks second after rice in terms of both production and area coverage in Nepal. Maize being the principal staple food for majority of people and source of animal feed, cultivated from March to May depending upon distribution of rainfall. Although maize area and production has shown a steady increase in recent years, its productivity has been low (2.67t/ha). Despite the many efforts made to increase the maize productivity in the country, the results are not much encouraging. This paper was prepared after intensive review of all the information obtained from all available resources to analyze the production of maize and reason for decrease in productivity of maize. The research work conducted in several periods has shown numerous reason such as insect pest, disease, weeds, biotic stress, lack of labour, unavailability of improved seed, poor extension and research Programme and frequent occurrence of drought and many more. Therefore, in order to streamline the future direction of maize production in Nepal, an attempt has been made in this paper to highlight the present status and future prospect with key pathways for increasing the productivity of maize.

REVIEW ON STATUS OF LARGE CARDAMOM (AMOMUM SUBULATUM ROXB.) PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN NEPAL

Large cardamom is the major spices crop and an export potential high value crop. Nepal is the largest producer of large cardamom. The review study focuses on the status of the production, marketing, exports and constraints in the large cardamom cultivation in Nepal. The production of the large cardamom is found to be increasing but the productivity was in decreasing trend. The varieties are under the process of registration. The most of the marketing channel is the exporting channel and India is the primary market of export. Some of the value addition processes are missing during processing of the crop. Price volatility and lack of proper technical knowledge are the major constraints observed in the production and trade. Other problems like improper planting material, traditional curing process, susceptible to viral diseases, high custom tariffs and trade taxes in some countries are also the observed problems. Producing of the product with quality standard through technical training and workshop from public and private sector can help in uplifting the large cardamom status of the country.

SITUATION OF VEGETABLE PRODUCTION AND ITS MARKETING IN THE CONTEXT OF RURAL FARMERS: A CASE STUDY

Diversified agro-ecological zones and the variation in the weather and climate with a year favors the production of Vegetables in Nepal at large extent. Production could be effective only if the Marketing is well adapted there. Marketing plays the vital role in the proper management of the produced product and help in raising the living standard of the respective farmers. Marketing not only focus on improving the earning capacity and employment opportunities of the respective vegetables producing farmers but also provide the fresh vegetables to the needy consumers at affordable price and their demands for vegetables seems to be fulfilled. To increase the efficiency of vegetables marketing in Nepal, there need to focus on building improved market information system which will provide the market information about the demand, supply to the producers, traders and consumers which will help in making proper production and marketing decisions. To make the Nepal, a self-dependent country on its own vegetables production, Marketing need to be highly focused. To know about the gender role in Agricultural production and marketing, crops they produce and the selling rate and the marketing status, problems and solution expected by farmers, I did a case study in the Chatakpur area of Dhangadhi,Kailali.

A REVIEW ON NON-CHEMICAL WEED MANAGEMENT IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.)

Weed is omnipresent species that compete with major crops for light, nutrients, space, and water for their growth and development and ultimately deteriorate the ideal environment for crops growth. In the present context, herbicide application is the easiest and seemingly economical approach for weed control in south-Asian countries. In contrary, the side effects of herbicide on health and environment impose to adopt for the non-chemical method of weed management. This paper reviewed the menace of herbicide, crop weed association, the critical period of crop-weed competition, and different methods of organic weed control implemented especially for maize. The main objective of this review is to maneuver a weed control strategy for maize other than the chemical application. The findings of different research suggested that a critical period of crop-weed competition in maize lies between 2 to 8 weeks after crop sowing. Many mechanical methods for weed control in maize proved efficient but seemed labour intensive and biological methods provided maximum security against specific weed species. The cultural method in combination with other methods effectively reduced the weed population in the maize field. It was found that, if various components of non-chemical weed management are implemented systematically, we can control the weed population with higher economic return and achieve the goal of organic food production with sustainable solutions. Weed control in the organic system focuses on management techniques designed to prevent weed emergence, give a competitive advantage to the main crop, and act for sustainable solutions. The non-chemical integrated weed management system is recommended to reduce the use of herbicide and for sustainable production. A review of non-chemical weed management in maize could be helpful for researchers to provide useful, sustainable, and environmentally friendly solutions to farmers to solve the problem of weed infestation in the maize crop along with substantial yield improvement.

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF MAJOR VEGETABLES IN PARSA DISTRICT, NEPAL

The survey research was conducted to analyze the economics of production and marketing of major vegetables in Parsa district of Nepal from December 2019 to April 2020. Primary data for the household survey were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire from sixty sampled respondents, sixteen from Pokhariya municipality, and forty-four from Bahudarmai municipality. Secondary data were collected through scientific journals, articles, and publications from agricultural organizations, projects, and programs. Average area under vegetable cultivation was found 12.68 Kattha. Out of five major vegetables under study average cost of production per kattha was found highest for pointed gourd (Rs. 11551.50) lowest for okra production (Rs. 6071/kata). The majority of production cost was covered by labor cost (>40%). The average productivity of cauliflower, okra,brinjal, chilli, and pointed gourd was 27.3 Mt/ha,19 Mt/ha,16.67 Mt/ha, 27.52Mt/ha, and 25.83Mt/ha respectively. B:C ratio of all the vegetables under study was higher than three which implies that vegetable farming in the study area is profitable farm business. Producers-wholesalers-retailers-consumers was the most used marketing channel. Market margin of cauliflower, okra, brinjal, chilli and pointed gourd was Rs. 13/kg, Rs. 7.73/kg, Rs. 7.86/kg, Rs. 28.07/kg and Rs. 8.69/kg respectively. Index of severity was constructed to rank the problems in the production and marketing of vegetables. Analysis of the problems identified shows the need for proper storage facilities, training related to vegetable farming and insect pest management, and subsidies on regular basis, and mechanization and modernization of the farming system through the introduction of technological knowledge and modern farm practice.

PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEE IN DANG DISTRICT OF NEPAL

This paper studied the production and management of honey bee in dang district. 35 respondent rearing commercially honey bee of Tulsipur and Ghorahi sub-metropolitan city and Banglachuli rural municipality were selected by using Purposive sampling techniques out of 141 commercial bee growers (Registered AKC, PMAMP). Structure questionnaire where designed to sample opinion of respondents. Data were collected using M-water surveyor mobile Application by using pretesting questionnaire and analyzed using MS-Excel, Statistical Package of Social Science. Results obtained that 72% respondents commercially rearing Apis millifera and 11% rearing Apis cerana. Farmers having 22-117 numbers of hives found maximum (77%). Maximum number of hives rearing found was 500 by commercial bee keepers. Average hive number and Average productivity found were 98 and 31.2kg per hive per year (Apis millifera). 89% respondent were found increasing their enterprise and good source of income was found as the main reason to increase their enterprise whereas 11% respondent were decreasing their enterprise and Shortage of forage was found as the main reason to decrease their enterprise. Hive cleaning practice was adopted by majority of the farmer (40%) to protect the hive from rainy and summer season whereas feeding with sugar syrup was adopted by most of the farmer (80%) during rainy and summer season. Hive covering with jute sacs and straw was found most adopted practice (69%) to protect the bee colonies during winter season. Commercial bee keepers having more number of bee hives and migrate their beehives for foraging in different places outside the valley were found 4 and more times honey harvesting whereas two times harvesting was found by beekeepers rearing Apis cerana. Most of the farmer used to sell honey from farm gate (94%) however the most selling was done to the whole sellers due to lack of storing and processing equipment.

FAW; AN EMERGING THREATS TO AGRICULTURE

The fall armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda) is a polyphagous crop pest which has a higher possibility of spreading all over the world, risking the agricultural potential yield by reducing the productivity and production. The rapid breeding ability with a speed migrating tendency along with the voracious feeding nature, has made the monitoring and control of this pest more difficult. With more than 80 host species, the agricultural devastation caused by FAW has been a threat to the agricultural sector. So, an integrated approach of pest management should be in our top priority while dealing with controlling of the pest. Various cultural practices like deep ploughing before the rain onset and intercropping with different leguminous crops has helped to decrease the faw population along with other physical, biological, mechanical and chemical methods. However, chemical methods should be applied below the economic threshold level and only when the pest population is growing in such a rapid form that the other methods has failed to affect the pest population. This review mainly focuses on the Insect distribution, its biology, host preference, field damage along with its management strategies that has been researched by various researchers from different corners of the world.

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF ORGANIC VEGETABLE FARMING IN BAITADI DISTRICT

Our study was conducted to know the feasibility of organic vegetable farming in Baitadi district along with the current situation of farming. Accelerating use of agrochemicals,higher production cost and deteriorating ecosystem health have advocated the need to change external input use agriculture towards safe and sustainable organic production .Current research emphasize on the constraints and feasibility of organic vegetable production by selecting farmers of Baitadi District.This study adopted a random sampling technique to select the 60 respondent and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for mean, median, frequency, ranking and trend analysis; binary Logistic model to identify factors determining the decision to cultivate in separate plots for home consumption and market. The study revealed that years of schooling and production for both subsistence and commercial farming were statistically significant for the decision to cultivate in separate plots for home and market consumption. Majority of respondents were Chhetri (46.67%) followed by Brahmin (43.33%).The findings also reveals that majority of the households were male headed (78.33%) and literate (65%). Huge populations (68.33%) were found involved in agriculture followed by others in business, service and pension. Major problems of the study area were lack of knowledge about organic farming, and government intervention. Majority of the farmers are confident that use of chemicals and fertilizers is dangerous for human health and they are consenting to adopt organic farming if technical and credit supports are provided.