Adoption of Good Agricultural Practice to Increase Yield and Profit of Ginger Farming in Nepal

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the major high-value cash crops in Nepal. Low yield, conventional farming, and limited access to production resources such as improved cultivars, production technologies, and extension services are the existing problems of Nepali ginger farmers. In this study, we conducted community based-participatory research in Ilam district, Nepal, in 2015–2017. This research aimed to explore the appropriate ginger farming technology considering yield, income, and environment. We compared the effect of four different ginger production technologies on ginger yield and net farm income that include: i) traditional practice with mother rhizome harvest, ii) traditional practice without mother rhizome harvest, iii) good agricultural practice (GAP) with mother rhizome harvest, and iv) GAP without mother rhizome harvest. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with five replications. The yield of ginger under GAP and without mother rhizome harvest was observed 17.9 t·ha−1, which was 39.8% higher than the farmers’ existing practices and 45.5% higher than the national average. The cost of production was almost the same in all treatments; however, the GAP with mother rhizome-harvested treatment gave the highest benefit–cost ratio (1.5) along with the maximum net farm income ($2072.6·ha−1·year−1). Thus, we suggest ginger producers adopting GAP rules to obtain a higher yield and harvesting mother rhizomes earlier for obtaining maximum profit. The GAP rules will additionally protect the environment. This study also suggests policymakers and related stakeholders promoting GAP as a sustainable production technology in agriculture-based countries like Nepal.

High-tunnel Organic Ginger: Response to Propagation Material, Fertilizer, and Prepropagation Rhizome Storage

“…However, there were no yield differences among the three planting material types stored in flats (Table 8). Our yields of 21,897 kgÁha -1 for MS transplants in 2020 (Table 7) and 20,152.4 kgÁha -1 for MS from pans in 2019 (Table 8) are also comparable to the 17,900 and 24,590 kgÁha -1 of rhizome harvest obtained in tropical field locations using 60 g or greater rhizome pieces (Baral et al 2021;Beale et al 2006). Contrary to the results of Prasath et al (2018), which showed no significant difference between the yield of twosprout transplants, single-sprout transplants, and conventional seed rhizomes in 7 months of tropical weather, our study showed SS transplants produced significantly lower yields than the larger seeded rhizomes.…”

Determinants of adoption of multiple sustainable agriculture practices among mandarin producing farmers in Salyan District of Karnali Province, Nepal

“…Similarly, determinants of adoption of agricultural intensification under different cropping system have assessed by Raut et al (2011). The field trials on influence of different good agriculture practices were carried out by various researchers including Baral et al (2021) but adoption determinants such as demographic, socio-economic, and resource accessibility factors were not studied. There are many impediments on adoption of SAPs by resource poor farmers, possible endo and exogenous determining factors should be studied and results should be integrated during policy formulation and implementation.…”

Production Practices and Marketing Strategies of Ginger (Zingiber officinale L.) in Southern Philippines

“…In the market, ginger as a commodity takes in various forms. Ginger products come as fresh or powdered, in oils or preserved, dried or pickled, as tea, syrup, or in crystallized form (Baral, 2021). Driving forces for global demand for ginger are health consciousness, population growth, changing social structure, and lifestyle.…”