This study was conducted to determine the cost contribution of pesticide to total cost of vegetable production along with criteria for the choice of pesticides, its handling and application pattern. It also includes the amount of pesticides imported in 2020 in Palpa district. Fifty farmers and 15 agro-vets were selected for a pretested questionnaire schedule. Microsoft-Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences were used to analyze the data. Mean and standard deviation was used to categorize the age of respondents. Contribution of pesticides was 3% to the total cost of vegetable production. Farmers were rarely aware of safe application procedures, 64% used different pesticides based on their efficacy alone and 54% didn’t adopt any safe disposal mechanism. Among different chemical classes of pesticide used for vegetable production, organophosphates constitute the highest i.e. 80%. Highest annual consumption of organophosphate pesticide was malathion dust (2287 kg) and carbamate was mancozeb (196 kg). Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 8, Issue-1: 292-298

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The study was carried out from April-August, 2017 to monitor the population of Tuta absoluta and to assess the management practices being adopted in Kavre, Nepal. Study consisted of two major parts: monitoring of insect population and farmer’s survey. The population of T. absoluta ranged from 51 to 972 in each Wota -T trap. The highest population of the insect in traps were recorded in Dhulikhel followed by Panauti and Banepa. Majority of tomato growers (78%) reported T. absoluta as the most problematic among other pests, diseases and disorders. The data from E-Plant clinic at Panchkhal revealed the degree of severity of T. absoluta in tomato crop. Tomato growers have adopted cultural, physical, mechanical, para-pheromone lures, quarantine, botanical and chemical methods for the management of this pest. Majority of them relied on chemical pesticide (94%) followed by cultural practices (86%) and Tomato Leaf Miner (TLM) lure (66%) based on cumulative percentage of respondents. Use of TLM lure was found as the best in terms of its effectiveness, safety, and practicability. Thus, Integrated Pest Management strategies are essential to limit the significant loss and reduce dependency on chemical pesticides in future.

A study was conducted from February to May 2020 to analyze the cost-benefit economics analysis and resource use efficiency of carrot production in Chitwan, Nepal. Altogether 70 households producing carrot were selected randomly and surveyed through the pre-tested semi-structured interview-based schedule. Data was entered and coded using SPSS 25 and analyzed using STATA 12.1. The study revealed that the total variable cost per hectare for carrot production was US $1803.1 and a benefit-cost ratio of 1.81 was estimated. Cobb-Douglas production function models the relationship between production output and production inputs . Production function analysis including seven explanatory variables, showed a significant positive effect of seed cost, tractor cost and human labor cost (P<0.01), fertilizer and manure cost (P<0.05) on gross return but herbicide cost, packaging cost, vitamin and micronutrients cost were found insignificant. The return to scale was found to be 1.42. According to estimated allocative efficiency indices, it is suggested to increase the seed, fertilizer and manure, tractor labor and  human labor costs by approximately 45%, 74%, 67%, and 79% respectively and reduce the herbicide and packaging costs approximately by 116% and 246% respectively. The adoption of modern technologies with adjustments to resource use should be suggested to maximize the productivity and profit from carrot production.

Red pumpkin beetle, fruit fly, flea beetle, whitefly, squash bug, melon aphid, etc. are the major insect pests of summer squash resulting in a huge loss in quality and quantity to farmers A field trial was conducted to find out the comparative efficacy of various insecticides against the major insect pests of summer squash from January to June 2020 in Dhading district, Nepal. The experiment was laid in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four different insecticides i.e. Imidachloropid 17.8 SL @1.5ml/l, Spinosad 45SC @1ml/L, Azadiractin (Nimbecidine) 500ppm @ 5 ml/L, Jholmol @ 1:5 concentrations, and normal water spray as control as five treatments. The treatments were replicated four times and ‘Anna 303’ variety of summer squash was used under study. The results revealed that, among all the insecticides evaluated at all the four sprays, Imidachloropid recorded the maximum reduction in the population of red pumpkin beetle (RPB) (about 90%), other insects (about 88%) and also showed minimum leaf infestation % (28.5%), and leaf damage % per plant (15.63%) and Spinosad being at par with Imidachloropid followed by Azadirachtin and Jholmol respectively. Imidachloropid and Spinosad also showed comparatively lower fruit infestation by fruit fly i.e. 18.5% and 20.5 % respectively than other insecticides. Both Imidachloropid and Spinosad treated plots were statistically (p<0.05) similar and significantly superior over other treatments for yield (52.11 and 50.31Mt ha-1 respectively), for fruit length (37.62 and 37.12cm respectively) and fruit diameter (26.78 and 26.51cm respectively). A negative and strong correlation was found between yield and mean population of RPB and other insects, leaf infestation % per plant, leaf damage % per plant, and fruit infestation % per plant whereas fruit length and diameter showed a positive correlation with yield. The benefit-cost ratio was highest for plot treated with Imidachloropid (4.21) followed by Spinosad, Azadiractin, Jholmol, and Control. Thus, Imidachloropid was the most effective and economic in controlling the major insect pests of summer squash.