Sample Of Farm Households Research Articles

Comparative Profitability and Impact of BINA Developed Aman Mutant Rice Binadhan-7 with Non-Mutant Variety in Bangladesh

This papar examined the cost and revenue as well as impact of mutant rice on fourteen region of Bangladesh namely Mymensingh, Jashore, Cumilla, Bogura, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Dhaka, Khulna, Chattagram, Rangamati, Barishal and Faridpur. A total of 560 farmers were randomly selected to fulfill the objectives where 280 farmers were mutant growers and 280 were non- mutant growers. A pre-designed interview schedule was used to collect the necessary data. Descriptive statistics, profit function and livelihood assets were used to analyzed the collected data. The study revealed that total variable cost of rice cultivation was BDT.40589 and BDT.43927 per hectare for mutant and non mutant, respectively which was around 71 percent of total cost of production. On an average, the total cost of production was BDT.59584 per hectare, where 29 percent was fixed costs and 71 percent was variable cost. For Binadhan-7 cultivation per hectare average net return was found highest in Dinajpur region i.e. BDT.70919 and the lowest in Jashore region i.e. BDT.33703. BCR on total cost basis was found 1.90 which was the highest in Sylhet 2.56 and the lowest 1.51 in Jashore region for Binadhan-7 production. In case of non-growers BCR on total cost basis was found 1.43 which was lower than Binadhan-7 production in the study areas indicating Binadhan-7 growers earn much than the non growers. The asset pentagon approach showed that there is a noteworthy increases in capitals of sampled farm households and the highest for financial capital that was 20.05 percent and the lowest was for natural capital i. e., 5.38 percent. Among the list of preferences, the highest was 88.93 percent for short duration and it was ranked I, the lowest was high yielding i.e. 81.43 percent which was ranked as V. Among the constraints, the highest constraint reported by the farmer was labour crisis as well as high price of labour i.e. 80.71 percent and it was ranked I and the lowest ranked V was lack of quality seed at proper time i.e. 48.93 percent in Binadhan-7 cultivation. Finally it is remarked that short duration high yielding variety Binadhan-7 plays a vital role in the monga mitigation of the northern areas of Bangladesh.

Factors Affecting Shift from Paddy to Maize Cultivation in Punjab

Maize is one of the most suitable replacements of paddy in Punjab. The primary data for 2015-16 of paddy, maize, and wheat crop from five Punjab districts (Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar and SBS Nagar) was collected from 300 sample farm households. The binary logistic model was constructed, and among the six most relevant explanatory variables availability of hired labour was found to be negative and significant statistically, whereas the educational level of decision maker was statistically nonsignificant. The participation in block-level camp/Kisan Mela/lecture attended by the decision maker was positive and significant statistically, and water availability on the diversified farm was negative and significant. Like the assured market and experience of the decision maker, the other variables were positive but non-significant. The farmers' non-diversification was found to be price instability, the menace of animals, lack of awareness regarding government programmes, non-availability of mechanisation for dehusking of the kernels.

Does Internet use improve technical efficiency? Evidence from apple production in China

This study aims to investigate the impact of Internet use on technical efficiency in apple production in China using a unique cross-sectional dataset covering 479 apple-producing farm households. The stochastic frontier analysis is used to calculate technical efficiency in apple production, accounting for the endogenous issues of intermediate inputs. The endogenous switching regression model is employed to examine the impact of Internet use on technical efficiency, accounting for the self-selectivity bias arising from observable and unobservable factors. The survey reveals that 52.4% of the sample farm households use the Internet to acquire technological information. On average, technical efficiency in apple production for the sample farm households merely equals 0.63, indicating substantial room for further improvement. After accounting for the self-selectivity bias, the Internet users would reduce technical efficiency by 30.3% if they had not used the Internet to acquire technological information. The robustness check using the treatment effects model reconfirms that Internet use can improve technical efficiency in apple production. Policy implications for developing an Internet-based agricultural extension system in China are also discussed.

Determinants of Smallholder Farmers Participation in Formal Credit and Challenges Faced by Institutions: The Case of Mojana Wodera District, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Agricultural finance for smallholder farmers is critical for the growth and development of agricultural sector. Despite the increasing number of formal financial institutions penetrating in rural areas of Ethiopia, access to credit among the majority of agricultural households remains limited. To ensure that appropriate strategies are designed for improving participation in formal credit, it is important to understand why smallholder farmers cannot borrow loan for farming purposes from formal sources. Thus, this study was sought to ascertain factors that affect smallholder farmers participation in formal credit and challenges of formal financial institutions lending to agricultural activities (smallholders). Structured interview was used for collecting the data from the sampled farm households. Descriptive statistics and binary logit model were used for analyzing data. The study indicates that 43 (31.16%) of the sampled farm households were formal credit participants, whereas the remaining 95 (68.84%) were non-participants. Negative perception of farm households in formal credit participation was attributed the isolation of very poor farmers from group formation in case of group lending system. Number of livestock owned, group lending and distance from lending institution were factors influencing participation of households in formal credit use negatively as evidenced by the model output. This study recommends that in order to make agricultural development successful these factors and problems are taken into consideration by policy makers to enable participation in credit use from formal financial sources.

Impact of Improved Maize Technology Package on Maize Yield Growth of Major Maize Growing Regions of Ethiopia

This study examines the differential impact of adoption of improved maize technology package (including improved maize varieties, fertilizer of any kind as well as row planting) on maize yield growth using 645 sample farm households in three major maize growing administrative regions of Ethiopia. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique was employed since it is an increasingly utilized standard approach for evaluating impacts using observational data. It is found that adoption of improved maize technology package doesn't have the desired positive and significant impact on yield growth in all of the administrative regions considered. Moreover, the magnitude of the impact greatly varies among regions. Thus, the study recommends that the agricultural research and extension system of the country should further consider the various differences that exist among different regions and areas of the country so as to generate and disseminate appropriate and suitable improved agricultural technologies and information. Keywords: Impact, Maize, Improved Technology Package, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/12-1-01 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Analysis of technical efficiency in maize production in Guji Zone: stochastic frontier model

BackgroundThe Guji Zone in particular and Oromia region in general have a huge potential for crop production that can even contribute for the country as a whole in the struggle for achieving food security. Maize is Ethiopia’s largest cereal crop in terms of total production, acreage, and the number of farm holdings. It is one of the staple crops produced in the study area. However, the farm productivity per hectare is low compared to the national average which indicates the presence of farming inefficiency in the study area. Thus, this study was undertaken with the objective of estimating the level of farmers’ technical efficiency in maize production and identifying the factors which determine the variation in the level of technical efficiency among the farmers.ResultsThis study was relied on the primary data collected from a sample of maize producing farm household of Adola Rede and Anna Sorra districts of the Guji Zone using a survey questionnaire. A simple random sampling technique was found appropriate for selecting the respondents, since the populations of these study area are homogeneous. The analysis was relied on a cross-sectional data collected from 234 sample farm households. A one-step stochastic frontier normal/truncated-normal model was used to estimate the farmers’ technical efficiency as well as to identify the determinants of yield per hectare of maize which was estimated by maximum-likelihood method. The empirical result indicates that there are large numbers of inefficient farmers in both districts. The estimated technical efficiency for maize producing farmers is equal to 69.03%. Besides, the current study revealed that 69.23% of maize producing farmers have been operating within a technical efficiency score interval equal to (0.5–0.75) in both districts. In addition, the maize yield per hectare in the study area is very low compared to the national average, i.e., the mean yield is 19.2 quintal per hectare. Moreover, the maximum-likelihood results show that gender of the head of the household, age of the head of the household, farm income, row planting, access to credit, number of active labor force, land size owned, access to improved seed and seed type used, and number of livestock were significantly determine the farmers technical inefficiency.ConclusionThe results of the study revealed that there is an opportunity which is being squandered in maize production in the study area. For instance, with a given technology, it is possible to raise the maize yield per hectare by 30.07% in the study area. Thus, the government and any concerned stakeholders should facilitate access to improved seed and fertilizer, credit, farm technology, and short-term training. Besides, all stakeholders should work in a cooperative and organized manner to implement the full agricultural package on farm level.

Differential Impact of Organic and/or Inorganic Fertilizer Application with Row Planting on Maize Yield Growth of Major Maize Growing Regions of Ethiopia

This study examines the differential impact of adoption of fertilizer (organic, inorganic or both) with row planting on maize yield growth using 673 sample farm households in four major maize growing administrative regions of Ethiopia. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique was employed since it is an increasingly utilized standard approach for evaluating impacts using observational data. It is found that adoption of fertilizer with row planting doesn't have the desired positive and significant impact on yield growth in all of the administrative regions considered except one region called Amhara. Thus, the study recommends that the agricultural research and extension system of the country should further consider the various differences that exist among different regions and areas of the country so as to generate and disseminate appropriate and suitable improved agricultural technologies and information. Keywords: Impact, Maize, Fertilizer, Row Planting, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/11-21-01 Publication date: November 30 th 2020

Fertilizer Adoption Impact on Maize Yield Growth: Disparity among Major Maize Growing Administrative Regions of Ethiopia

This study examines the regional disparity in the impact of adoption of fertilizer (organic, inorganic or both) on yield growth using 953 sample farm households in five major maize growing administrative regions of Ethiopia. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique was employed since it is an increasingly utilized standard approach for evaluating impacts using observational data. It is found that adoption of fertilizer doesn't have homogenous positive and significant impact on yield growth in all of the administrative regions considered. Thus, the study recommends that the agricultural research and extension system of the country should further consider the various differences that exist among different regions and areas of the country so as to generate and disseminate suitable improved agricultural technologies and information. Keywords: Impact, Maize, Fertilizer, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-19-05 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Determinants of Farm Households’ Vulnerability to the Impact of Land Degradation in the Central Omo-Gibe Basin, Ethiopia

Vulnerability to the impacts of land degradation has been frequently reported in Ethiopia. However, the level of vulnerability and its determinants vary in spatial and temporal. The objective of this study was to estimate farm households’ vulnerability to the impact of land degradation and its determinants in the Central Omo-Gibe river sub-basin, southwestern Ethiopia. Primary data were collected from 383 farm households using multistage random sampling techniques. The principal component analysis was employed to give different weights for indicators and estimate the households’ vulnerability index so as to categorize farm households based on their level of vulnerability . The result showed that 44.91%, 39.16% and 15.93% of the sample farm households were found to be less, moderately and highly vulnerable to the impact of land degradation, respectively. The ordered logistic regression result showed that age, sex, marital status, family size, dependency ratio, extension service, social participation, livestock ownership, land tenure security, land size and distance to the nearest main road, perceived reduction cropland productivity and plot-level land degradation affected households’ vulnerability to the impact of land degradation. Therefore, policymakers and local development practitioners should give priority to the highly vulnerable households focusing on the major factors affecting vulnerability strengthen human, financial, natural and physical including infrastructure and institutional capitals to minimize the impact of land degradation in the study area. Keywords: Land degradation, Vulnerability, Ordered logistic regression, Principal Component Analysis , Omo-Gibe basin, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-7-01 Publication date: July 31 st 2020

Disparities in the Ownership of Assets, Income and Consumption Expenditure among Farm and Non-Farm Households in Hoshiarpur District of Rural Punjab

Disparities in the ownership of assets, income and consumption expenditure of households were increasing in the rural as well as urban areas of the country. The study was undertaken to examine the disparities in the ownership of assets, income and consumption expenditure among 200rural farm and non-farm sampled households in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. The reference period of the study was 2017-18. The results showed that the average value of total assets of rural farm households was 21.46 times than the average value of assets owned by non-farm households. The distribution of land was found more unequal among farm and non-farm households. A large majority of non-farm households were landless and few of them were uneconomic size of landholdings. Moreover, the average sampled farm households earned `2, 63,786 per annum from all the agricultural and non-agricultural sources, whereas non-farm households earned only 60 percent of the total income earned by farm households. The income level of artisans, agricultural and non-agricultural labour households was found very low mainly due to high rate of illiteracy, low level of education, lack of ownership of productive assets and absence of highly paid job opportunities. The average value of household assets, income and consumption expenditure of farm household was positively associated with the farm-sizes. The study concluded that there was high level of disparities not just between the farm and non-farm households but also inside the farm and non-farm households in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

Socio-Economic Profile of Farm Households in Cotton Belt of Rural Punjab

This paper examined the socio-economic profile of farm households in the cotton belt of Rural Punjab. The result revealed that as a whole, more than two-thirds fall in the working-age group of 15-59 years. The average size of the family worked out to be 5.74 and the average size of owned land holdings was 11.50 acres. The data highlights that 34.96 percent were earners, 31.39 percent were earning dependents and 33.65 percent of the persons were dependents. The major proportion (88.46 percent) of total sampled households followed Sikhism and as many as 87.50 percent were from the general category. About 23 percent of the sampled persons were illiterate and literacy levels were found to be positively linked with the size of landholdings. About 34 percent of the heads of sampled farmer households were illiterate and the majority of the heads of sampled farmer households had education below secondary level. None of the heads among marginal farmers had obtained education up to graduation level, whereas, this proportion was 7.41 for the large farmers. The study points out that overall only 11.54 percent of the sampled farm households read the newspaper. There is a need for effective measures which could enhance the educational and awareness levels of farmers and their family members for raising their levels of living.

English

Agricultural production and productivity play a paramount role in the livelihood of rural farm households. Agricultural technology affects agricultural productivity and the welfare of rural farm households. However, there is a gap in knowledge on the effect of different technology adoptions on farm household’s welfare. This study examined the effect of improved wheat variety adoption on household’s welfare in Ethiopia. The study was based on cross-sectional data collected through a semi-structured questionnaire from 150 sample farm households. Double hurdle and Endogenous Switching Regression model were employed. The result indicates that the improved wheat variety adoption decision and intensity of adoption of farm households have determined by credit access, extension visits, soil fertility, plot size, off-farm employment, age of household head, distance from input market, and farm experience. The estimated model also revealed that adoption of improved wheat varieties has a positive and significant effect in enhancing farm household’s welfare. Therefore, adoption of yield-enhancing agricultural technologies should be more intensified to improve smallholder farmers’ welfare. Key words: Adoption, double hurdle, endogenous switching regression, impact, technology. &nbsp

Evaluation of the Smallholder Farmers’ Perception and Acceptance for Push-Pull Technology in Western Hararghe Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Cereal crops play an important role in ensuring food security in Africa and providing cash income for most households in the rural areas. In the last two decades, African region has been experiencing a significant decline in per capita food production in which the cereals explaining most of the observed variance in total food production. The decline in cereal production causes food self insufficiency and exposes the smallholder farmers and rural communities as whole to food shortage and famines. Striga weed and stem borers were among the major pests that contribute to the significant decline in cereals production in Ethiopia. In response to these challenges the Agricultural research Institutes both at national and international level has come up with various control strategies. Among these, Push-Pull technology was one of the strategies to cope the significant decline in cereals production. The Technology has been one of the most successful methods and with an advantage of controlling both the stem borers and striga weed simultaneously, while improving soil fertility status. The technology provides an integrated soil and pest management that makes an efficient use of natural resource to increase farm productivity. Even though the result from on farm research experiments and pre-extension demonstration revealed the positive effect of the push pull technology in improving production and productivity of cereal crops in different parts of Ethiopia (Boset, Mieso, Habro and Daro Labu), perception and acceptance of the wider smallholder farmers for the technology was not evaluated. Hence, this study was intended to analyze perception and acceptance of the smallholder farmers for the push pull technology in Habro and Daro Labu districts of western hararghe zone of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. Ten kebeles and 81 farmers implementing the push-pull technology were purposively selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. <i>Both primary and secondary data used to attain the research objectives. The structured questionnaire was a primary data collection tool. Collected primary data analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Science software (SPSS).</i> From the total sample farm households, about 77.8% of them were fully agree and 9% of them were agree with the idea that push-pull technology is efficient in controlling stem borer and improve the production and productivity of the cereals (maize and sorghum) in the study area. Smallholder farmers perceive benefits of the push pull technology through its role in improving the cereal yield by improving soil fertility, maintaining soil moisture, reducing soil erosion and the negative effect of striga.

Factors Affecting Level of Potato Commercialization in Kofale District, West Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

The Government of Ethiopia focuses on Agricultural Commercialization to meet the challenge of improving rural incomes by introducing Agricultural commercialization cluster. However, there are no adequate studies on level of commercialization and factors affecting Farmers’ potato commercialization in Kofale District. This study was aimed to identify level and factors affecting farmers’ level of potato commercialization. A two stage random sampling procedure was used to select 150 sample households potato producer. Descriptive statistics and econometric model were used to analyze the data. About 18% of sample farm households were low level of commercialization, about 15% medium and about 67% of them categorized under high level of commercialization. Truncated model was used in the econometric analysis. Education status, land allocated for Potato production and Access to market information influenced level of potato commercialization positively and significantly. The study indicated that the government, stakeholders and concerned bodies need to focus on facilitating farmers to participate education by providing adult education and extension based education, strengthening the existing livestock providing improved health services and better livestock feed (forage), improve productivity of land by providing technology and disseminate market information to producers so as to improve intensity of potato commercialization.

Determinants of the Adoption of Improved Sorghum and Sesame Seeds; the Case of West Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

Improved Seed is a key input for increasing crop production and productivity. Improving the quality of seeds can increase the yield potential of the crop by significant folds. However, due to the growing demands of the farmers in the study area for improved agricultural inputs, the supply sector could not satisfy the needs of the farmers. This indicates that there are different factors directly or indirectly influencing the input supply system. Hence, this study focuses on the Determinants of the adoption of improved Sorghum and Sesame seeds in West Gondar Zone. The research adopts a cross sectional survey design that combines both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. To conduct this study a multi stage purposive and simple random sampling technique was applied. A total of 150 sample household heads was selected from the two kebeles proportionally to their population size by using systematic random sampling technique. The data were collected from both primary and secondary sources of data. Data analysis was done by using descriptive statistics like frequency, mean, and standard deviation. Moreover, inferential statistics like Chi-square T-test was used to test whether there is a significant difference among the dummy/categorical and continuous variables respectively. The binary logit model was also used. The results of the study indicated that for both the technologies 83 (36.4%) of the sampled farm households were found to be adopters, whereas the remaining 145 (63.6%) were non-adopters. The maximum likelihood estimates of the logistic regression model show that livestock holding in TLU (LSTOCKHO), farming experience (FARMEXP), fertilizer use (FERUSE) and total income (TOTALINCOME) were important and significant factors influencing smallholder farmers’ adoption improved sesame seed variety in the study area. The government has to give a great emphasis on the technology dissemination and awareness about the adoption of improved seeds.

Socio-economic and Bio-physical Resources Characterization of ‘Warja’ Watershed in Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha District, East Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Watershed development is an important component of rural development and natural resource management strategies in many countries. The study was conducted to investigate the current situation of Warja watershed for further improvements to promote Sustainable and productive livelihood through the integration of different watershed components in participatory approach. Household interview and biophysical resources assessment followed by watershed mapping techniques were used for the data collection. Purposive sampling methods were used to select 63 households and Warja watershed boundary was delineated and its map was developed based on the preliminary outlet identified with the help of GPS reading. Descriptive statistics and diversity indices were used for data analysis. The results of the study indicated that Agriculture was the principal occupation (98.4%) of the population of Warja watershed. The average farmland size was 1.9 hectares while 25% of the households have farmland ranging from 0.25 to 1 hectare. The minimum and maximum family size of the sample farm households was 2 and 16 respectively. The common types of off-farm income generating activities are petty trade and working as daily labor. Slope gradient of Warja watershed ranges from 0 to more than 30 and the slope gradient of 2-5 and 5-10 cover the greatest in area coverage representing 204ha and 145ha respectively. Soil laboratory analysis result showed that sandy loam was the major soil type of Warja watershed. Overall results concluded that land degradation and biodiversity loss were a serious concern and watershed management programs could be strengthened. Awareness creation and strengthening capacity of rural communities on integrating crops, livestock and natural resource management technologies for effective soil and water conservation measure should be enhanced through participatory integrated watershed management approach.

Effect of Participation in Commercial Production of Medicinal Plants through Community-Based Conservation Groups on Farm Income at Kakamega Forest, Kenya

ABSTRACT Forest conservation by peripheral communities is one of the most advocated strategies for ensuring sustainable supply of forest goods and services. In Kenya, although conservation activities generate considerable environmental improvements, studies evaluating the economic benefits are very limited. This study aimed at assessing the impact of participating in the commercialization training program by forest adjacent communities on farm income. Utilizing matching techniques, the analysis is based on the data collected from a randomly selected sample of farm households around Kakamega forest in Kenya. The results show that age, forest distance, forest benefit, market distance, and farming experience are the main factors that influence the participation in the commercialization program. Also, participating in commercial production of medicinal plants has a positive and significant effect on farmers’ income. The average treatment effect on the treated (ATT), based on three estimation algorithms, ranges from KSH. 80,047 to KSH. 176,788 per hectare, per year, implying that policy efforts that focus on the participation in the commercialization program of medicinal plants can enhance incomes among farm-dependent households. The findings from this study suggest that upscaling the participation in the commercialization program to other areas.

Determinants of Food Insecurity of Smallholder Farmers in Humbo Woreda

Food insecurity is a worldwide growing concern. According to the 2010 State of Food Insecurity report of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), nearly one billion people are estimated to be under- nourished, of which developing nations account for 98% (UNFAO2010). Demeke et.al (1995) pointed out that, despite many efforts, food insecurity is still a prominent feature of Ethiopia. Half of the food insecure population of the Sub Saharan Africa is found in Ethiopia, which is one of the seven food insecure country in Sub Sahara Africa. The food insecurity situation in the Humbo woreda, Wolaita zone of Ethiopia shares similar features with that of the other regions (WVE, 2007). The problem of food insecurity has wide diversity and multiple dimensions, which ranges from the global to individual level. Nevertheless, variability, complexity and interrelated causes of household food insecurity and local responses during crisis require an analysis to move down to a household level. It is with regard to this that this study began with the primary objective of analyzing the determinants of household food insecurity of smallholder farmers in Humbo Woreda Southern Nation Nationality People Regional State. To achieve this objective, primary data were collected from a sample of farm households in the Woreda through a structured questionnaire. A total of 183 farm households’ cases were included in the final analysis. In addition, secondary data were collected from different organizations and pertinent publications in order to elaborate the present situation of the food insecurity status in the study area. Logit model was used to identify and analyze the effect of explanatory variables on the dependent variable. A total of twelve explanatory variables were included in the regression. Out of these, six variables were found to be significant in terms of food insecurity. The variables that have a significant relationship with the probability of food insecurity are: Use of Chemical Fertilizer, Use of irrigation, Land Size, Livestock Size, Food Aid, and Farm Credit Use. The rest of the explanatory variables, namely age, sex, education level, family size, dependency ratio, and other sources of income, had no significant effect on the probability of food insecurity. Therefore, consideration of these factors is vital as it provides information that would enable one to undertake effective measures with the aim of improving food security status in the study area. Keywords: Food insecurity, logit , Humbo woreda, smallholder farmers DOI : 10.7176/JPID/50-01 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Contrasting resilience of agriculture to climate change in coastal and noncoastal districts of Odisha

The issue of climate change impact on agriculture and its mitigation through developing resiliency is of prime importance to enhance farmers' income and livelihood security. A study was conducted in Odisha to find out contrast in resilience of agriculture to climate change in coastal and non-coastal district. Agricultural scenario was studied through a composite agricultural scenario index (ASI) during 2001 to 2014.The coastal district Balasore showed a relatively better resilience in the years of climatic disasters maintaining the ASI value at a higher level as compared to non-coastal district Khurda due to better agricultural and irrigation water resources scenario in Balasore district. However, Balasore is more vulnerable than Khurda in all the seasons; vulnerability of Balasore and Khurda districts is found highest in monsoon and pre-monsoon period, respectively. About 90 percent of sampled farm households possess irrigated land in Balasore district and rainfed land in Khurda district. A remarkable dent in crop productivity is seen during calamity years, which are more severe in Khurda district during heat waves and cyclone than Balasore district, which faces a decline during cyclone and flood.

Commercial vegetable farming: Constraints and opportunities of farmers in Kirtipur, Nepal

&#x0D; Vegetable farming is one of the alternative sources of earning livelihood and becoming important agricultural practices for income generation and employment opportunities. This paper aims to analyze the constraints and opportunities of vegetable farmers in Kirtipur. Altogether 80 farm household survey were conducted in four major areas of Kirtipur. A total of 20 key informant interviews (KII) were also conducted to understand the perception of farm households on commercial vegetable farming. The result shows that around 94% of the total sampled farm households have leasehold farmland that has spread to different settlements of Kirtipur Municipality. Out of total leasehold farmers, 69% have written agreement with the landowner. The result also shows that the farmers cultivate vegetables in an average area of 5.67 ropani (2884.49m2). Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) are the primary vegetable products, whereas cauliflower (Brassica oleracea) and other green leafy vegetables are mostly cultivated as secondary vegetable products. Dug wells are the major sources of irrigation on vegetable farmland. Out of the total sampled farm households, about 42% of farmers are associated with farmers group and 37% have basic training on vegetable farming. Majority of farmers have savings from vegetable production and marketing. Despite few constraints like price fluctuation (81%) and high middleman margins (71%), vegetable farming in Kirtipur has many opportunities particularly being a major source income and livelihood (93%), self-employment generation (87%) and growing market demand (83%). The opportunities in commercial vegetable farming have continuously attracted the farmers in Kirtipur; however, the existing constraints has deprived farmers from their expected returns. Therefore, this paper recommends to portray possible options to promote opportunities and overcome the existing constraints to retain commercial vegetable farming as a sustainable source for farm households in Kirtipur.