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1-Gross domestic product (GDP) and gross domestic product from agriculture (GDPA): Average annual growth rates, 2000-07
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This study examines the existing status, policies, and institutions for promoting agricultural output in Nepal, in particular cereals. In this context, it reviews the policies on agricultural input such as seed, fertilizer, water, agricultural equipment, research and extension, and agricultural credit. It also provides an overview of the policies a...
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Citations
... Seed is considered as an important inexpensive input, which governs yield [6]. e yield of maize is higher with the adoption of new technology among smallholder farmers [7]. Improved seeds contribute about 20-30% increase in yield [8]. e supply of improved maize seeds, however, is very limited in Nepal [2,9]. Only around 18% of maize farmers are using improved seeds [10]. ...
Maize is the second most important staple crop in Nepal. Its demand is rapidly increasing due to a growth in the poultry sector. The national maize yield is low, leading to insufficient domestic production and thereby increasing imports. Maize seed is considered as one of the crucial inputs in achieving the targeted yield growth, but usually is in short supply during the cropping season. Farmers are involved in maize seed production, which eases its supply. Thus, understanding the efficiency of maize seed production will have a direct impact on the efficiency of the country’s maize production. This paper aimed to assess the technical efficiency (TE) of maize seed production and the major factors affecting TE. Semistructured questionnaire survey was administered in June 2016 to 182 maize seed farmers selected randomly from a total of 260 maize seed growers in Palpa District, a leading maize seed producing district in the mid-hills of Nepal. TE is estimated based on the stochastic frontier production model, and the factors affecting TE are assessed using the Tobit model. TE ranged from 0.25 to 0.92 with an average of 0.71. This revealed the scope of increasing TE by 29%. TE in the study area is largely affected by the age and schooling year of household heads. Similarly, the experience of maize seed production, livestock holding, the share of maize seed area, seed source, and access to extension services affect TE. Hence, a focus on motivating experienced educated maize seed growers to expand the maize seed production area supplemented by a better seed source and extension services would contribute to improving TE.
... There is very less supply of breeder and foundation seed for its multiplication due to lack of research and production in seed sector. The supply of maize improved seeds is very limited in Nepal (Pullabhotla, Shreedhar, Kumar & Gulati, 2011) which has hindered the better production and yield of maize. Improved better quality seeds contributes about 20-30% increase in yield (SQCC, 2013). ...
This paper aimed to assess the technical efficiency of maize seed production and the major factors contributing on technical efficiency. Maize is the second most important staple crop in Nepal, but the average yield of maize is very low as compared to other countries having similar agro-climatic requirements. Inefficient use of resources had led to low yield in maize crop. The software Raosoft was used to determine the required sample size and total of 182 samples were selected using simple random technique in June, 2016. Stochastic production frontier model and Tobit model were used to derive the results. The average technical efficiency of maize seed production ranged from 0.25-0.92 with an average of 0.71which revealed the scope of increasing technical efficiency by 29 percent. The majority of the farmers (29.1%) were at higher technical efficiency level of 0.8-0.9 followed by 28.6 percent at 0.7-0.8 and 23.1 percent at 0.6-0.7. Age and schooling of household head, experience on maize seed production, area shared by maize crop and dummies variables such as livestock holding, source of seed and access to extension service had found significantly affecting on the technical efficiency level. For the least developed country like Nepal it would be better to use the available resources wisely and improvement of existing technologies would be more cost effective than that of discovering new technologies. The study recommended that the concerned organizations should focus on mixed agricultural farming system, access to better quality seed and provide technical knowledge which would help in improving technical efficiency.
... The demand of maize is increasing at geometric ratio due to changing food habit and growing feed industry (IFPRI, 2010). The limited supply of quality seed in Nepal (Pullabhotla et al., 2011) has become major limitation on commercial scale production and better yield. Maize has shown better potential in increasing the yield of smallholder farmers with the adoption of new technology (Kibaara, 2005). ...
p>The cereal crop, maize is regarded as staple food mainly in hill areas of Nepal. Seed is one of the vital input which determines the production and yield of any crop. Farmers are found using the required inputs in haphazard way which had increased the cost of production and inefficiency of resources used. The study on seed sector is limited. For such a backdrop, this study was aimed to assess the level of technical efficiency (TE) of certified maize seed production. The total of 164 certified seed producer were interviewed in June, 2016 using simple random sampling technique in Palpa district of Nepal. The result revealed that increase in amount of seed and labor by one percent would increase the yield of certified maize seed by 0.29 and 0.34 percent respectively. The TE was estimated using stochastic production frontier model in Stata software. The average TE was found 70 percent which revealed the scope of increasing TE by 30 percent using the existing available resources. There were about 29 percent farmers who had TE of ≥0.7-0.8 followed by 27.44 percent at ≥0.8-0.9. Government and other stakeholders should prioritize to provide technical knowledge via training and increase the visit of extension worker to increase TE of certified maize seed producer in the district.</p
... The information on value addition in terms of the form is very limited. In addition, the price spread and marketing studies are generally focused on fruits, vegetables and other cash crops (Pullabhotla et al., 2011). Such studies, however, very limited in less perishable farm products such as cereals and pulses. ...
p>General complaint of Nepalese farmers is that middlemen grasp much of the benefits from agricultural products paying low to farmers and charging high to the consumers thereby discouraging farmers to produce. Scientific studies are scanty to support or refute the complaint. The main objective of this paper is to test this hypothesis in light of rice recovery in milling. Primary data were collected from surveys of randomly selected 50 households and 41 mills from purposively selected 19 districts in Nepal. The study found that the rice recovery rate is 66.2% for head rice 73.2% for brown rice. After adjusting for the milling percent the retail price comes to be 14% to 18% higher than the farm gate price. The results show that the marketing margin is not so wide in case of less perishable crops like rice. Improving milling technology, however, can increase milling percent reducing the price spread.</p
Nepal has faced food insecurity for many years. Each year, thousands of youths migrate to foreign countries seeking jobs and leaving family's farmlands fallow, with no manpower to till. Further, recurrent natural disasters and low adoption of improved technologies are impeding agricultural production. Building on the shared-value business and knowledge management concepts, this chapter discusses why capacity building of food value chain actors is critical to attain food security and sustainability in Nepal. Information from existing literature, interview with select experts and reflection on authors' own experiences form the bases of this chapter. The chapter begins with a brief introduction of the topic, and covers definition of food sustainability, a list of food value chain players, food security related laws and provisions, roles and capacity of the food value chain players, and a way forward to improve the capacity of food value chain actors to attain food sustainability, among others. The chapter concludes reiterating the need to motivate young generations to pursue farming and educate farmers to not blindly rely on imported and top-down technologies, rather continue to grow crops that are sustainable in their farming systems.
Background
Maize is the second most important staple crop in terms of area and production in Nepal. The production and yield of maize are low in Nepal as compared to other similar agro-climatic regions. Seed is considered as a vital input in production. The yield of maize can be increased by using improved seeds and technologies. Farmers were generating good income being involved in foundation seed production as compared to certified seed. The maize seed sector in Nepal is handicapped by low domestic research and production capacity, which results in the poor supply of breeder and foundation seed for its multiplication. Hence, this study is aimed to investigate determinants of income from maize seed and adoption of foundation seed production in Palpa District of Nepal.
Methods
Palpa District of Nepal was selected for the study because of its high contribution on maize seed production. The sample size was determined using the software Raosoft. A total of 182 samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, probit model, income regression model and the instrumental variable model were used to analyze data.
Results
The per hectare income from foundation seed production was higher than that from certified seed by NRs. 51,541. The study revealed that schooling year of household head, family type, active members, farm category, total income from maize seed production and training received had statistically significant effect on the adoption of foundation seed production. It was found that income increased by about 44% for the households producing foundation seed as compared to certified seed. This higher income is mainly driven by the higher yield as well as the higher price of the foundation seed. The study revealed that increase in area under maize seed by one hectare would increase the income by 242%. A result of the instrumental variable model showed that foundation seed production and extension services received do not affect significantly on maize seed income.
Conclusion
This study identified that foundation seed production was profitable farm business in Palpa District of Nepal. However, very few farmers adopted such technology due to lack of proper training and extension services. Farmers should focus to increase area under foundation seed production to achieve higher returns.
Keywords
Adoption, Foundation seed, Instrumental variable, Maize, Probit
The Ethiopian government has been promoting a package-driven extension that combines credit, fertilizers, improved seeds, and better management practices. This approach has reached almost all farming communities, representing about 2 percent of agricultural gross domestic product in recent years. This paper is the first to look at the extent and determinants of the adoption of the fertilizer-seed technology package promoted in Ethiopia using nationally representative data from the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia. We estimate a double hurdle model of fertilizer use for four major cereal crops: barley, maize, teff, and wheat. Since maize is the only crop that exhibits considerable adoption of improved seed, we estimate a similar model for the adoption of improved seed in maize production. We find that access to fertilizer and seed is related to access to extension services and that production specialization together with wealth play a major role in explaining crop area under fertilizer and improved seed. One of the most important factors behind the limited adoption of the technological package is the inefficiency in the use of inputs, which implies that changes are needed in the seed and fertilizer systems and in the priorities of the extension service to promote more efficient use of inputs and to accommodate risks associated with agricultural production, especially among small and poor households.
Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Patterns of gradual, endogenous change toward formalization are being challenged by rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. Based on a study of land tenure in Uganda, this paper analyzes how different ways of defining landownership—based on household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land—provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of landownership and rights. Although many households report that husbands and wives jointly own the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, especially titles, and women have fewer land rights. A simplistic focus on title to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could especially have an adverse impact on women's land rights.
