G.K. Shrestha and Sandeep Giri

DOI

ABSTRACT

This survey was undertaken to record socio-economic condition of the banana growers and the technologies adopted in banana production and marketing in Narayanpur and Phulbari VDCs and Tikapur Municipality of Kailali district. One hundred respondent farmers were selected randomly from these study sites for interviews, group discussion, and personal contacts and used a semistructured questionnaire for information and data collection. Results indicated that there was a dominance of male over female farmers in most of banana farming activities in Kailali. Farmers having various education levels and age groups involved in growing banana earned an annual income from Rs. 30-100 thousand/ha. Majority of the respondents have their own livestock for manure but some farmers purchased manure. ELUM PLUS, DADO (Kailali) and others have played a significant role in motivating farmers towards banana farming, yet trainings on scientific technologies are desired by over 80% of the respondents. The farmers (68 respondents) had never taken any kind of agriculture loan from any Bank or other agencies. Many respondents (48%) said they required hiring of labor for field activities. Along with socio-economic status of farmers, the production and management techniques and several problems faced by these farmers are presented in this paper.