Empirical evidence transformation into local agro-governance pathways for enhanced agro-productivity in rural mid-hills of Nepal

Abstract

Agriculture with livelihood is vital for the Nepalese economy. The primary sector contributes approximately 27% to the national GDP and acts as a safety net in economic woes. However, this sector faces various challenges. State restructuring from unitary to federal governance enables sustainable and resilient agro-governance even from local levels. Thus, local agro-governance has a crucial role in identifying policy constraints and enhancing land productivity. Thus, this study tries to explore different observed variables of local agriculture governance and agriculture production. Structured questionnaires were distributed to farmers and primary data was collected (285 samples) from Tamakoshi Rural Municipality, Dolakha for the study. This quantitative research design integrates diverse constructs encompassing agro-production and local agro-governance while estimating land productivity through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) employing multiple regression analysis. The competencies of policy implementation hinge primarily on socioeconomic indices; the findings highlighted the mechanization policies, farm inputs, efficient use of production factors, and governance enrichment to enhance land productivity. Thus, it's crucial to minimize policy shocks and implement targeted and tailored approaches with multi-stakeholder engagement. Focusing on agro-specific and sensitive long-term strategies; it's essential to pursue state and non-state actors' governing pathways to enhance land productivity and foster comprehensive agro-development.