Economic Impact of Tunnel Based Tomato Production on Household Economy (A Case study of Annapurna Rural Municipality)

Abstract

Economic development is the backbone of the development of a nation.According to the World Bank ' Agriculture is the main sources of food, income and employment for the majority'. In Nepal, the outcome from the agriculture is limited and employment opportunities are rare in the rural areas and also the agriculture production is not increasing sufficient in comparison with other countries. Now a days, cash crops like tomato plantation in Tunnel is in practice. So, the study on Economic Impact of Tunnel based Tomato Production on Household Economic is carried out. It has been conducted in Annapurna rural municipality ward no 2 of Kaski district. It aims to analyse the present situation of the tomato plantation, to determine the trend of tomato production and to describe the problems and prospect of tomato production. Survey, analytic and descriptive method has been adopted to conduct the study for convenience. Out of 277 household 64 were randomly has been selected using simple random sampling technique and data were collected with the help of questionnaire and interview. The major findings of this study are: adult females and academically literate people were involved in the tomato plantation using their own land. Tomato production had generated more income than others crops but it was not more productive in long run in the same field. Respondents were aware about the changes of the society and new trends. The income generated from tomato was properly utilize in productive sectors. Nematode,white fly and leaf minor are major pest and late blight, viral complexes were the major diseases of tomato in the study area.Insecticide was not much needed in the tomato plantation but both fertilizers,compost and chemical were equally required in the production of tomato plantation.Farmers were benefited from the tomato plantation but flexible time schedule and price of selling was not satisfactory. Lack of transportation, lack of technician, low price level, problem of markets and lack of irrigation were the main problems of tomato plantation in the study area. Finally, they argued that the program helped them to solve migration problem and unnecessary tea talk of the study area. Last but not the list, more number of farmers need to encourage in this type of vegetables production and similar studied should be conducted and outcomes should be implemented.