Factors Affecting the Productivity of Coffee in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi Districts of Nepal

Coffee is one of the major potential cash crops with lucrative export value grown in mid-hills of Nepal. Nepalese coffee production has suffered long by low productivity. Research was conducted from February to May, 2019 to analyze the factors affecting the productivity of coffee in Arghakhanchi and Gulmi districts of Nepal. These two districts were, purposively selected for this study taking account of comparative advantage and past studies recommendations for coffee sector. Altogether, 100 coffee growing households 50 from each, Arghakhanchi and Gulmi, were sampled by using multistage sampling technique. A pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the primary information while secondary information was collected reviewing the relevant publications. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model was used to determine the factors affecting the productivity of coffee. The study revealed that the number of active family members involved in coffee production (0.000), adoption of income diversification through intercropping (0.005), training (0.072) and technical assistance (0.021) had positive and significant effect on coffee productivity. Encouraging the household to have coffee production as their primary occupation, providing technical assistance on rational land utilization and intercropping and strengthening the skill and knowledge of farmers through trainings could significantly support in increasing the productivity of coffee

Economics of Organic Vs Inorganic Rice Production: a Case of Chitwan District of Nepal

Xiii Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major staple food crop of Nepal. A research was conducted in December, 2019 to examine the economic viability of organic rice farming and factors affecting its adoption. Fulbari area of Chitwan district of Nepal was purposively selected for this study on consultation with Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Chitwan and review of past works which showed good practice of organic rice farming. A total of 100 farm households, 50 organic and 50 inorganic were selected using simple random sampling. Primary data were collected through a pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule, while secondary data were collected from related publications. The probit regression analysis showed that the six variables were statistically significant for the decision to adopt organic rice farming, they are: number of schooling years of the household head (p= 0.014), annual household income from agriculture (p= 0.012), membership of any agricultural organization (p= 0.000), subsidy in other inputs in addition to seed and fertilizers (p= 0.000), area of rice cultivated land (p= 0.007) and awareness on climate change (0.086). The benefit cost ratio of organic rice production (2.2) was higher as compared to inorganic (1.9) which showed that the profitability in organic rice production was higher than in inorganic. Furthermore, indexing identified- lengthy certification process (0.85) as the first major hindrance in adoption of organic rice farming followed by lack of proper organic market (0.68), high cost of organic seed and fertilizer (0.56), lack of knowledge and trainings on organic farming (0.48) and lack of government support such as grants and premium price (0.44) as the second, third, fourth and fifth hindrances respectively. The government should promote organic rice farming, prioritizing the small scale and marginal farmers by giving subsidies and premium, facilitating in certification and marketing, and providing knowledge about climate change