Food and Agri Economics Review (FAER) 1(2) (2021) 107-120 Quick Response Code Access this article online Website: www.faer.com.my DOI: 10.26480/faer.02.2021.107.120 Cite The Article: Amrita Paudel, Anish Paudel, Rishi Ram Kattel (2021). An Economic Analysis of Production and Marketing of Major Vegetables in Parsa District, Nepal. Food and Agri Economics Review, 1(2): 107-120. ISSN: 2785-9002 (Online) CODEN: FAERCS RESEARCH ARTICLE Food and Agri Economics Review (FAER) DOI: http://doi.org/10.26480/faer.02.2021.107.120 AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF MAJOR VEGETABLES IN PARSA DISTRICT, NEPAL Amrita Paudel * , Anish Paudel, Rishi Ram Kattel Agriculture and Forestry University Nepal * Corresponding Author Email: pdlamr1998@gmail.com This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT Article History: Received 05 June 2021 Accepted 07 July 2021 Available online 12 July 2021 The survey research was conducted to analyze the economics of production and marketing of major vegetables in Parsa district of Nepal from December 2019 to April 2020. Primary data for the household survey were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire from sixty sampled respondents, sixteen from Pokhariya municipality, and forty-four from Bahudarmai municipality. Secondary data were collected through scientific journals, articles, and publications from agricultural organizations, projects, and programs. Average area under vegetable cultivation was found 12.68 Kattha. Out of five major vegetables under study average cost of production per kattha was found highest for pointed gourd (Rs. 11551.50) lowest for okra production (Rs. 6071/kata). The majority of production cost was covered by labor cost (>40%). The average productivity of cauliflower, okra,brinjal, chilli, and pointed gourd was 27.3 Mt/ha,19 Mt/ha,16.67 Mt/ha, 27.52Mt/ha, and 25.83Mt/ha respectively. B:C ratio of all the vegetables under study was higher than three which implies that vegetable farming in the study area is profitable farm business. Producers-wholesalers- retailers-consumers was the most used marketing channel. Market margin of cauliflower, okra, brinjal, chilli and pointed gourd was Rs. 13/kg, Rs. 7.73/kg, Rs. 7.86/kg, Rs. 28.07/kg and Rs. 8.69/kg respectively. Index of severity was constructed to rank the problems in the production and marketing of vegetables. Analysis of the problems identified shows the need for proper storage facilities, training related to vegetable farming and insect pest management, and subsidies on regular basis, and mechanization and modernization of the farming system through the introduction of technological knowledge and modern farm practice. KEYWORDS Vegetable production; Productivity; Profitable; Market margin; Marketing channel 1. INTRODUCTION Agriculture is the mainstay of the Nepalese economy providing employment opportunities to around two-thirds of the country's population and contributing 27.10% to the national GDP (WIKIPEDIA, 2020a; MOAD, 2019). To uplift the country's economy by increasing agricultural production and productivity, various laws, plan, and policies have identified the vegetable sub-sector as one of the leading sectors (Pokhrel, 2010). Vegetable farming has not only been identified as the backbone of Nepalese agriculture but is also the major livelihood option for rural poor farmers contributing around 9.71% to total Agricultural GDP (Karki, 2015). Vegetable production and marketing is gradually emerging as an important sub-sector with a remarkable contribution to the nation's economy in Nepal (Pokhrel, 2010). During the last 10 years from 2009/2010 to 2018/2019, the area under vegetable crops has increased by about 26% and production has been increased by about 42% (MoAD, 2019). In terms of export, vegetable is the fifth important agricultural commodity after lentil, cardamom, wheat, and tea (CBS, 2013). But still, the amount of vegetable that is exported is way lesser than the amount imported in Nepal. In 2017/18, Nepal imported edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers, and planting materials worth RS. 23729.25 million and exported them worth RS. 1,139.87 million with a trade balance of RS. -22,589.39 million(Nepal Foreign Trade Statistics, 2018). This data shows that there is a huge scope of increasing export and decreasing the import of vegetables by maximizing production within the country. The demand for vegetables is also increasing day by day due to the raised income of the people shifting their food habit from cereal towards more fruits and vegetable consumption (Ghimire et al., 2018). Vegetable growers of Parsa district are growing 30 different kinds of vegetable, however, PMAMP, PIU, Vegetable-zone, Parsa has targeted mainly on 21 species of vegetable namely Pea, Broad bean, Coriander, Cauliflower, Onion, Chilly, Garlic, Okra, Brinjal, Cabbage, Bitter gourd, Pointed gourd, Radish, Broad leaf mustard, Bottle gourd, Sponge gourd, Cowpea, Potato, Tomato, Pumpkins and Cucumber (PMAMP, 2018a). Based on the area, production, and productivity Cauliflower, Cowpea, Chilly, Brinjal, and Okra are five major vegetables grown in the Parsa district (PMAMP, 2018a). In Parsa, there is 9,082 ha of land area covered by vegetables with a production of 154034 mt and productivity of 16.96 mt/ha (MOAD, 2019).