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

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture practices (SAPs) are eco-friendly farming techniques, which ensure the agricultural production and environmental protection simultaneously. The aim of this study was to identify the potential SAPs being adopted by farmers, their adoptability, and to assess the determinant factors for multiple SAPs adoption. For this, face-to-face interview with 120 mandarin producing farmers, six focus groups, and 11 key informants was conducted in Salyan District of Karnali Province, Nepal. Farms were categorized into four categories on the basis of sustainability score and required inferences on quantitative and qualitative data were made by descriptive statistics and probit regression. Results revealed that majority of the mandarin farms were categorized as fairly low and fairly high categories. Factors such as age, gender, and schooling of household head, access to the Internet, distance of market for farm inputs, and availability of human labor had significantly increased the probability of multiple SAPs adoption at varied level of significance. Farm level policies regarding dissemination of integrated nutrient and pest management tactics, subsidization on eco-friendly farm inputs via cooperatives, trainings, demonstration, and field workshops should be formulated and implemented effectively.