Bipin Aryal1 , Santosh Neupane1 , Bishal Pandey1 , Shubekshya Shah1 , Surya Prakash Dangi1 ,
Anup Tiwari2
1 Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Campus of Live Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Nepal;
2 Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Co-operative, Province 5
Corresponding author’s e-mail: bipinaryal618@gmail.com
Abstract
Vegetable seed enterprise is a highly potential sector for the economic growth of farmers in Nepal. Rukum is the most important district for vegetable seed production since long time because of favorable agro-climatic condition. This study has been carried out to assess the vegetable seed sub-sector of Rukum and find out how profitable it is through different economic analysis. Sanichaur-13 and Loribang-14 village of Musikot municipality were selected for our study on recommendation of Agriculture Knowledge Center, Western-Rukum. A purposive sampling technique was used to conduct the study and total of 60 households from Sanichaur and Loribang village of Musikot municipality were interviewed with pre-tested questionnaire and key informant interview with some of the local traders was also done. As per the study, it appears that the vegetable seed enterprise contributes to 47.25% of income from on-farm activity and 22.5% of total source of income. Labor contributes to 49.5 % of total variable cost and makes it a labor-intensive enterprise. Vegetable seed enterprise in Rukum is profitable as the B/C Ratio is 1.961 and Gross Margin is NRs.8614.36 per Ropani. Sensitivity Analysis shows that the vegetable seed enterprise is viable even when the cost of production is increased by 10% and total revenue is decreased by 15% simultaneously. Disease, Insect, Low Technical Knowledge, Low scale of production and Input Unavailability are the major production problem whereas improper market price, Price fluctuation, Inadequate market information, Lack of Processing Facility, Inferior quality seed and Lack of transportation facility are the major marketing problems.
Keywords: Socio-economic, Vegetable seed, Benefit-Cost ratio, Rukum