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The area of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) production in the Eastern Plains of Nepal is decreasing every year due to several factors, including increasing cost of cultivation, lower yield, lower and delay payment, insect and diseases problems. A study was conducted to analyze the productivity and profitability of sugarcane production in this region, where, a randomly selected 80 sugarcane farmers from Sunsari and Morang districts were administered with the questionnaire to collect data between 2017 and 2018. Results of the study revealed that farmers were male dominant (67.50%) with average landholdings of 1.30 hectares (ha). The dominant age group in the farming community was 51 to 60 years and 58.75% of farmers had a primary level of education. The sugarcane production in the study area was profitable with benefit and cost ratio (B/C) 1.38 and 1.34 for main and ratoon crops, respectively. The net income was NRs. 91369.70 and NRs. 36065.00 for main and ratoon crops, respectively. The coefficient of multiple determinations (R2) was 0.79, which means that variations in the explanatory variable explained 79.80% of the variation in the dependent variable. Lower productivity, unscientific price fixation, and delay payment of the sugarcane by the sugar mills were the major problems found in the study area. Labor expenses constitute half of the total cost of cultivation, so mechanizations are needed to lower the cost and increase the profit. Co-coordination among different stakeholders, including the government entity, is required for scientific pricing and sustainable production of sugarcane.

Wheat crop in developing world including

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major cereal crops vital for global food supply. Most of the wheat crop in developing world including that of Nepal is either grown with limited irrigation or under rainfed conditions and thus face moisture stress at one or more growth stages limiting grain yield. An experiment was carried out at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Rampur, Nepal, to evaluate the genetic variability of selected drought adaptive traits in Nepalese wheat germplasm. The wheat genotypes evaluated comprised of Nepalese landraces and commercial cultivars, CIMMYT (International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement) derived advanced introduction lines and three checks with differential drought adaptability. The wheat genotypes were grown in pots (single plant) arranged in a replicated split plot design in greenhouse under two contrasting moisture regimes, optimum and moisture stressed. The genotypes were evaluated for water use, water use efficiency, relative leaf water content and biomass production. The ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) revealed significant variation between environments and among the wheat genotypes for most of the traits studied. A wide range of variability was observed for water use, water use efficiency, biomass yield and relative leaf water content in moisture stressed and non–stressed environments. Nepalese cultivar Gautam showed a number of favorable drought adaptive traits, whereas, Bhrikuti was average in this respect. Based on the scores of drought adaptive traits recently released Cultivar (cv). Vijay was characterized as drought sensitive. A number of landraces and advanced breeding lines showed high level of water use efficiency and other positive traits for drought adaptation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7208 Hydro Nepal Special Issue: Conference Proceedings 2012 pp.64-68

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