Technical Efficiency of Hybrid Maize Production in Eastern Terai of Nepal: a Stochastic Frontier Approach

Maize is the second most important crop after rice in terms of area and production in Nepal. This article analyzes the technical efficiency and its determinants of hybrid maize production in eastern Nepal. Using a randomly selected data from 98 farmers (41 from Morang and 57 from Sunsari) in eastern Nepal, the study employed a stochastic frontier production model to find the production elasticity coefficients of inputs, determinants of efficiency and technical efficiency of hybrid maize farmers. The results showed that maize production responds positively to increase in amount of urea, DAP and the area planted, where as it is negative to seed quantity. The study indicate that farmers are not technically efficient with a mean technical efficiency 79 %. Socioeconomic variable age had a negative and significant while the household size had a positive and significant related to maize output. The younger farmers were observed more technically efficient than older farmers. Larger the members in the household higher the maize production. It is recommended that farmers should increase their fertilizer dose and farm size while they should decrease their seed rate for efficient production

Technical Efficiency of Wheat Growing Farmers of Nepal

Wheat is a major staple food crop of Nepal, so it is necessary to increase its productivity. However, the national average wheat productivity of Nepal is low as compared to other neighboring countries. This study employed a Cobb-Douglas stochastic production frontier model to examine the technical efficiency and its determinants using randomly selected household data from 343 wheat farmers from four districts of Nepal. Maximum likelihood estimation results showed that wheat production responded positively to an increase in the quantity of inorganic fertilizer, whereas it was detrimental to seed rate. Likewise, the study found that farmers were not technically efficient with a mean technical efficiency of 81%. The result showed irrigation, herbicides, sowing time, Farm Yard Manure (FYM), and wheat varieties were statistically significant factors that affect the technical efficiency of wheat farmers. Furthermore, to increase wheat productivity, farmers should use better irrigation, appropriate weed management practices, optimum sowing time, and adoption of recent improved varieties. Findings suggest that the technical efficiency of wheat farmers could be enhanced by practicing optimum use of inputs and improving the inefficiency factor

Prevalence of cardiovascular health risk behaviors in a remote rural community of Sindhuli district, Nepal

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is emerging as a public health menace among low and middle income countries. It has particularly affected the poorest. However, there is paucity of information about CVD risk factors profile among Nepalese rural communities where the majority of people live in poverty. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the prevalence of cardiovascular health risk behaviors in an outback community of Nepal. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in Tinkanya Village Development Committee (VDC), Sindhuli between January and March, 2014. Total 406 participants of age 20 to 50 years were selected randomly. Data were collected using WHO-NCD STEPwise approach questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS V.16.0 and R i386 2.15.3 software. RESULT: The mean age of participants was 36.2 ± 9 years. Majority of participants (76.3%) were from lower socio-economic class, Adibasi/Janajati (63.1%), and without formal schooling (46.3%). Smoking was present in 28.6%, alcohol consumption in 47.8%, insufficient fruits and vegetables intake in 96.6%, insufficient physical activity in 48.8%; 25.6% had high waist circumference, 37.4% had overweight and obesity. Average daily salt intake per capita was 14.4 grams ±4.89 grams. Hypertension was detected in 12.3%. It had an inverse relationship with education and socio-economic status. In binary logistic regression analysis, age, smoking, body mass index (BMI) and daily salt intake were identified as significant predictors of hypertension. CONCLUSION: Present study showed high prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption, insufficient fruit and vegetable intake, daily salt intake, overweight and obesity and hypertension among remote rural population suggesting higher risk for developing CVD in future. Nepalese rural communities, therefore, are in need of population-wide comprehensive intervention approaches for reducing CVD health risk behaviors