Assessment of role of water harvesting technology in vegetable-based income diversification in Palpa district, Nepal

Abstract

With increasing incidence of drought and scant rainfall it has now become mandatory for farmers to opt to techniques like water harvesting to fulfil the demand of water for farming. The study was focused on the role of water harvesting on vegetable based income diversification of farmers in Tansen Municipality of Palpa. Altogether 120 water harvesting technology adopters were chosen using purposive and simple random technique to collect household level data from personal scheduled interview. In addition, focus group discussions (FGD) with farmer groups and key informant interviews (KII) with enablers were also conducted. Comparison between commercial and non-commercial farmers was carried out on different parameters using chi square test, t test and descriptive statistics. Findings revealed with the adoption of almost all farmers had changed their cereal based cropping pattern to vegetable based cropping pattern after they adopted water harvesting technology due to which vegetable share in total income was higher (47.6%) than cereal (2.03%). Average income from vegetable per household was NRs. 185,654 which was significantly higher in commercial farmers. Accessibility to road was also a major determinant of type of water harvesting structure adopted by farmers, its type and capacity. Income from vegetable, cereals and total income were significantly higher among farmers having direct access to road than farmers who did not. The benefit cost ratio, net present value and internal rate of return of plastic pond was 7.78, NRs. 422,185 and 135%, respectively implying that adoption of water harvesting was highly beneficial at farm level.

Keywords

• climate change
• nepal
• rain water harvesting
• technology adoption
• vegetable farming
• income