Characterization of Farming System and Determinants of Adoption of Horticultural Enterprises in Achham, Nepal

Nepal's rural agriculture is characterized by its diverse and interconnected system of farming. The Ghaghara/Karnali river system in the northwest of Nepal represents the typical rural farming system. A study was conducted in 2019 in the Mid-hill district of Achham, Nepal in the same river system with the aim of studying the farming system, its features, and different factors that influence the horticultural enterprise adoption by the farmers. A total of 130 respondents were selected from the Panchadewal Binayak Municipality of Achham district of Nepal using the multi-stage purposive random sampling approach. Beside the characteristics of Farming system; various factors that determine the horticultural enterprise adoption were examined using the binary logit regression model. The integrated or multi-enterprise farming system was found to be dominated by three primary enterprises: horticulture, livestock, and agronomy. The pattern of household participation in each enterprise under study was substantially the same, with almost three fourth of the household choosing main grain crops, and horticultural crops especially vegetables; around 85% adopting livestock in an integration system, and only about 13% fruit trees. The study demonstrated that among the many factors under inquiry, the gender of household head, size of the family and visit by the extension workers influences the farmer’s decision on adoption of horticultural enterprise significantly. Though non-significant, age, level of education, farming experience, agriculture as primary occupation and credit facilities also positively plays the role in decision of horticultural enterprise adoption. Ethnicity, years of residence in same location, dependency ratio, total land size, training and visit to extension worker were negatively associated with farmers' decisions regarding horticulture enterprises. Thus, for the development of agriculture in rural areas with a higher adoption of horticultural enterprise which as higher potentialities in the rural agricultural system in Nepal, it is necessary to consider the role of various socioeconomic and personality variables in farmers decision to adopt the type of farm enterprise

Assessment of agricultural mechanization status in rice production and its challenges in the western Nepal

There is a difference of 45% to 55% between the attainable yield and the potential yield of rice. This gap may be due to insufficient inputs and poor mechanization status. In this regard, agricultural mechanization is of the utmost importance to obtain satisfactory yield. This study was conducted to determine mechanization level, power per unit area, probit regression, and challenges faced by farmers to understand the mechanization status in rice cultivation. For this, 98 households in the Pyuthan municipality of Pyuthan district and 87 households in the Bhimdutta municipality of Kanchanpur district were selected using a simple random sampling method. The highest mechanization level was found in the main field tillage (90.92%), followed by threshing (85.24%), the seedbed tillage (52.42%), and irrigation (20.10%). Mechanization is lacking in transplantation, bund preparation, fertilizer application, weeding, and harvesting. Power per unit area was found to be 4.67 hp/ha. Age and family size have a negative impact while male household heads have a positive impact on mechanized tillage and threshing, both statistically significant at a 5% level. The unavailability of farm machinery and land fragmentation were the major challenges in the adoption of farm mechanization. The mechanization status in the study areas is not satisfactory, thus, the strict policy against land fragmentation, dissemination of extension services at the grass root level, and the provision of subsidies for required farm machinery could help the improvement of mechanization status in rice production in Nepal

Anxiety and Depression among Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Attending at a Cardiac Center, Kathmandu, Nepal

Psychiatric morbidity such as anxiety and depression is common among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The coexistence of psychiatric morbidity negatively affects the outcome of treatment and increases the overall burden of disease in CAD patients. The objective of the study was to identify the level of anxiety and depression among patients with CAD. Descriptive, cross-sectional research design and purposive sampling were used and a total of 168 patients having coronary artery disease were selected purposively for the study from the patients attending cardiac outpatient department of Sahid Gangalaal National Heart Center, Kathmandu, Nepal. Data was collected on 2017 by using pretested semistructured interview schedule, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The findings showed that 27.4% of the respondents had anxiety caseness and 23.8% of the respondents had depression caseness. Bivariate analysis showed that patient’s level of anxiety was significantly associated with sex, family income, occupation status, and self-esteem. Higher level of anxiety (42.4%) was found in female than male patients. Likewise, level of depression was significantly associated with education status, occupation status, presence of comorbidities, physical exercise, and self-esteem of the patients. There was significant positive relationship between anxiety and depression score. Thus anxiety and depression were common among patients with CAD. Hence, anxiety and depression in CAD patients need be monitored regularly, provide regular counseling services, and refer the patients for the treatment when needed

An assessment of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) orchard management practices in Dailekh, Nepal

A study was carried out in Dailekh, Nepal with an objective to assess the mandarin orchard management practices and their level of adoption by mandarin growers of Dullu municipality. All together 60 respondents were selected for the household survey in major citrus-producing wards of Dullu by following the simple random sampling technique. Primary data were collected by administering the pretested questionnaire and; descriptive and inferential statistics were computed using Ms-Excel and SPSS. The result showed that the majority of the respondents were from Brahmin ethnicity (43.3%), middle-age group i.e. 35-49 years (53.3%), and male (70.0%). Furthermore, most of them belonged to medium size family of 5-8 members (60.0%) and were earning most of their income through agriculture (80.0%). The result of the study revealed the variation in the scale of adoption of different management practices. Most of the households had adopted pruning and applied farmyard manure (FYM) while the least of them had adopted mulching and applied chemical fertilizer. Chi-square test revealed that the factors such as age (p=0.042), education level (p=0.007), family size (p=0.029), and training exposure (p=0.001) were significantly associated with the level of adoption of these practices. Incidence of insect-pests and diseases (I=0.88), frequent occurrence of climatic hazards such as hailstorms (I=0.71), and limited irrigation facility (I=0.70) were the major problems of mandarin growing households. It is recommended that improving access to irrigation facilities, use of certified planting material, mulching application and use of appropriate dose of manure and fertilizer must be prioritized in the study area