Economic effect of tunnel vegetable farming : A study of Phungling Municipality, Taplejung, Nepal

Abstract

The Commercializing subsistence farming is crucial for changing the livelihood of farmers. Vegetables have a great importance in agriculture sector. The contribution of agriculture to national Gross Domestic Product is remarkable; however, it is declining over the decades. Use of seasonal extension technologies such as plastic tunnels in farming can potentially contribute to farms capability by helping farmers to improve their efficiencies and by extending the market season, one of the major barriers in meeting food demand. Tunnel farming is relatively new technology in Nepal and its benefits are not vibrant. This study is an attempt to find out the benefits of tunnel farming. The Government of Nepal emphasizes agriculture development in for poverty alleviation. This paper aims to analyze the Economic analysis of tunnel vegetable farming in Phungling Municipality. Simple random sampling method is used for determine sample size. Altogether 35 farm household surveys were conducted in two major areas of Phungling. A total of 20 key informant interviews were also conducted to understand the perception of farm households on tunnel vegetable farming. The result shows that around 97.2% of the total sampled farm households have leasehold farmland that has spread to different settlements of Ward No. 7 & 8 at Phungling Municipality. The major Finding was listed below. 106 Respondents are selected for Research. The all total respondents from study area 67% Male and 33% female are involve in tunnel farming. The highest 74.3% respondents says they have no other job they only involved in tunnel farming, and the lowest 1% respondents are Entrepreneur, 5.7% respondents family member are going foreign country, 8.6% respondents have private job, 5.7% respondents are also involve in government job, and 4.8% respondents are also involve in local shop. The Major Recommendation government has to make further policy research and developmental studies to cultivate the vegetable through the development of commercialized agriculture in study area. So, the farmers will have more opportunities and practices in vegetable farming. Local Governmental Institutions (Municipality/Rural Municipality) should also implement policies and programs for promoting sustainable vegetable farming towards market oriented organic production systems in coordination with concerned institutions. As a result of which, the local level developments become sustainable through constant farming.