Background: Wheat is the third important cereal after rice and maize in Nepal. Its yield suffers from several factors such as lack of reliable irrigation, inclement weather, incidence of disease and lack of improved technology. New virulence race Ug99 (Uganda-99) has threatened all available commercial wheat varieties around the world and Asia. Some of the popular varieties of wheat in Nepal are also getting susceptible to different diseases. Vijay is one of the recently released first Ug99-resistant improved wheat varieties for Terai region in Nepal. Nepal has put special emphasis on the seed production and diffusion of this variety to promote rapidly in the farmers' fields to mitigate the potential epidemics of newly emerging pathotype of stem rust (Ug99). This variety is being promoted by several organizations and seed companies' before and after its release. Therefore, this study was undertaken to know the seed supply of Vijay and identify the factors that are contributing for its commercialization.Methods: Sunsari, Morang, Rupandehi, Banke and Kailali districts were selected purposely representing Eastern, Western, Mid-western and Far-Western Terai regions of Nepal, respectively. Seed companies, agro-vets (input dealers) and cooperatives involved in Vijay seed multiplication and distribution in the respective districts were selected for the purpose of the study. From the list of agro-vets in respective study sites, a total of 87 wheat seed selling agro-vets were selected randomly as a sample. The sample survey covered 44% of the target population in both categories (dealers and non-dealers of national seed company). Out of total samples, 40% were national seed company dealer agro-vets, while 60% were non-dealers. Multivariate regression analysis was used to find out different factors responsible for commercialization of Vijay seed. Results:Results indicate that about 67% of the agro-vets were involved in Vijay seed trading and their average time of involvement was 2.65 years. Majority of the agro-vets perceived this variety performed better than other existing popular varieties such as Gautam, Bhrikuti, Aditya and Nepal 297. However, there was still gap in timely supply of the seed. Based on the estimated Certified-1 seed production in 2015/16, Vijay must cover 56.88% (11,943 ha) of total wheat area in Terai, but share of Vijay seed was about 22% of the total wheat seed sold by agro-vets in 2015/16. Nevertheless, it seems that this variety is getting popular in the study area compared to other improved wheat varieties in short time period. The factors influencing commercialization of Vijay were: agro-vets having dealership of national seed company, perception on comparative better performance of Vijay with Nepal 297, total quantity of wheat seed sold by agro-vets and total business transaction of the agro-vets. Moreover, other factors such as pre-release multiplication of Vijay variety by private seed companies and participation on seed related training have found positive contribution on its commercializati...

The research was conducted from March to May 2019 for assessment on adoption of improved wheat varieties in two major wheat growing districts of Nepal, Sunsari, and Kailali; one representing eastern and another western Terai. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect the primary information; in addition, two Key Informant Surveys were performed. Furthermore, relevant literatures were reviewed for secondary information. The simple random method of sampling was used within the selected areas that were identified in consultation with Agriculture Knowledge Centre and agricultural officials of the local government. Altogether, 194 samples were taken for the purpose of the study, omitting the outliers and incomplete responses. Descriptive statistics, probit regression, and indexing were used for data analysis. Probit econometric model revealed that membership dummy (1% level), age (1% level) number of family members involved in agriculture (1% level), subsidy dummy (5% level), number of schooling years (5%) and loan dummy (10% level) significantly determined the adoption of improved wheat varieties developed after NARC establishment. Furthermore, indexing identified-lack of availability of quality improved seeds (I= 0.80) as the major problem associated with the wheat production followed by poor availability of fertilizers (0.77), labour shortage (0.57), lack of proper irrigation (0.46) and lack of agricultural machines (0.39). The government agricultural institutions should assure access to quality seeds and fertilizers to the farmers; in addition, subsidy on irrigation and agricultural machines allied with agricultural loan to the educated youths could be the point of attraction for wheat cultivation which leads to increased wheat productivity.

Research was conducted from February to May, 2017 for socioeconomic assessment on maize production and adoption of open pollinated improved maize varieties in Dang district of Nepal. Altogether, 100 samples were taken by simple random sampling from the major maize growing areas and relevant publications were reviewed. Focal Group Discussion and Key Informant Survey were also done. Descriptive statistics, unpaired t-test, probit regression and indexing were used for data analysis using statistical tools-SPSS, STATA and MS-Excel. Probit econometric model revealed that ethnicity (1% level), gender (5% level), area under open pollinated improved maize (1% level), seed source dummy (1 % level) and number of visits by farmers to agrovet (5% level) significantly determined the adoption of open pollinated improved maize varieties. In addition, unpaired t-test revealed that the productivity of open pollinated improved maize varieties was significantly higher (at 1% level) than local; also, the multinational companies' hybrids showed significantly higher productivity (at 1% level) when compared to open pollinated improved varieties. Furthermore, indexing identified-lack of availability of quality seeds and fertilizers (I= 0.86) as the major problem associated with the maize production. Giving aggressive subsidy on open pollinated improved seeds and dealership to registered agrovets for selling the subsidy seeds could enhance the adoption. Moreover, government organizations working in the areas of agricultural extension and research must focus on adoption of open pollinated improved maize varieties among the farmers, substituting the local and developing the high yielding hybrid varieties in Nepal to increase the maize productivity.

This research was conducted from January to June, 2020 to determine the profitability and resource use efficiency of rice production in Jhapa district of Nepal. The primary information was collected from 100 rice growing farmers, randomly selected from the sampling frame, using the pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule; moreover, two Key Informant Surveys were also done. In addition, the secondary information was collected from the review of related literatures. Descriptive statistics, Cobb-Douglas production function were used for data analysis. The gross margin (NRs. 53,531/ha) and benefit cost ratio (2.05) indicated that rice production was profitable with the productivity of 4.5 mt/ha. The return to scale of rice production was calculated 0.86 which indicated that the production function exhibited a decreasing return to scale. The allocative efficiency indices revealed that for optimum allocation of resources, cost on seed, chemical fertilizers and irrigation cum pesticides/herbicides need to be increased by 73.8, 78.4 and 93.9% respectively; while cost on human labor and tractor power should be decreased by 53.8 and 51.5% respectively. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 7, Issue-4: 242-247