Vegetable cultivation in Eastern Nepal: resource use efficiency and socio-economic drivers of adoption

Abstract

Resource use efficiency and socioeconomic factors influencing the adoption of vegetables for cultivation were analyzed using cross-sectional data from randomly selected 120 vegetable producers in the Udyapur District of eastern Nepal. A field survey was conducted between October and November 2019. Five major vegetables of the district based on the area of cultivation, namely potato, cauliflower, radish, cabbage, and tomato, were taken for the study. The benefit-cost ratio was highest for cauliflower (2.46), followed by tomato (2.20), radish (2.01), cabbage (1.70), and potato (1.36). The Cobb-Douglas production function revealed that the cost of human labor and the cost of manure and fertilizer had a significant positive impact on income from vegetables, whereas the cost of seed had a significant negative impact on income from vegetables. The resource use efficiency analysis shows that the costs incurred for human labor, tillage, seed, irrigation, and packaging/marketing were overused. In contrast, the costs of manure and fertilizer are underused. The Logit model was used to study various factors affecting the adoption of vegetables for cultivation in the study area, which revealed the relationship and extent of the impact of various socio-economic factors on the adoption of the five different vegetables.

Keywords:

• Cobb-Douglas
• resource use efficiency
• Logit
• adoption

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Manuel Tejada, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

SUBJECTS:

• Agriculture
• Horticulture
• Economics

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend our gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shiva Chandra Dhakal and Mr. Bishnu Kumar Bishwakarma for their valuable comments and feedback during the Master’s thesis submission by Mr. Sagar Ghimire in Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwan, Nepal, from which the major results of the manuscript were extracted. We are grateful to the respondent farmers, enumerators, and stakeholders of the study area, without whom this study would not have been possible. Errors, if any, are entirely our own.

Authors’ contributions

Both authors contributed to the study design. Sagar Ghimire collected the data, analyzed, and wrote the original draft of the manuscript. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rishi Ram Kattel advised and provided comments and feedback to finalize this manuscript. All authors approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Data availability statement

Data that support the findings of the study are available from the corresponding author, (Kattel, R. R.), upon reasonable request.

Notes

1 Ethnicity composition in the study area was Brahmin, Chhetri, Janajati and Dalits. Brahmin and Chhetri are so called upper caste, Janajati are the indigenous ethnic groups and Dalits are the underprivileged ethnic groups in Nepal.

2 Livestock holding is measured in terms of Livestock Standard Unit (LSU) based on cattle equivalent using following equation (Kattel & Upadhyay, 2018).

1 cattle/cow= 0.66 buffalo = 10 goat/lamb = 4 pig = 143 chickens/ducks

3 Kattha is unit of area of land which is equivalent to 338.63 square meters.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Directorate of Research and Extension of Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwan, Nepal in collaboration with the Nepal Agriculture Services Development Programme.

Notes on contributors

Sagar Ghimire

Sagar Ghimire serves as an agriculture extension officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Management in the Gandaki Province, Nepal. He holds a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. He is currently dedicated to advancing his academic pursuits through a Doctoral Course in Agriculture Sciences with a major in Agricultural Economics at the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki, Japan, supported by the Japanese Government (MONBUKAGAKUSHO: MEXT) Scholarship since 2023. His research interests include production economics, food security, agricultural transformation, and rural development.

Rishi Ram Kattel

Rishi Ram Kattel is an academic with extensive practical and field experience in the agricultural sector in Nepal. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management and also serves as Director of the Directorate of Research and Extension in Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. He has expertise in data analysis, econometric modeling, and value chain analysis. His research interests include global value chain analysis, agribusiness management, and agricultural economics.