Y. Gurung and G.K. Shrestha

DOI

ABSTRACT

Large cardamom is an important cash crop of eastern hilly region of Nepal. To find out the present status of large cardamom production in Pakhribas VDC of the Dhankuta district, a survey of 100 households was performed from February to July 2012 using semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire. Among the total respondents 58% were male and 42% were female. 29% were of the Respondents (29%) had small sized family but 64% were living in medium sized family. Fifty six percent of the respondents were engaged in sole agriculture and remaining seven percent engaged in other services. Majority respondents have medium land holding at the study sites. The production technology in the study area was still traditional type and planting materials was also not of high quality. Chirkey, Furkey, leaf eating caterpillar, Kalopa, and Mouse were the serious problem in the large cardamom fields damaging plants and matured fruits of the cardamom. The production capacity of the respondent farmers ranged from 100 to 800 kg per annum in the study area. The major problems faced by the farmers of the study area were the inappropriate and fluctuation price of the cardamom which is done by the merchants themselves.