Cash Cropping in Nepal Essay Example for Free

Cash Cropping in Nepal EssayOn an individual crop basis, tomatoes and potatoes were the most increasing, sensitivity analysis and scenarios suggest higher(prenominal) variability and chokeed short-term pretend on poverty alleviation. Profitable. On a per farm basis, 50% of the households with positive farm gross margins grew at least one vegetable crop, slice only 25% of households with negative farm gross margins included vegetable crops in their rotation. Farmers have been hesitant to produce earlier for the market given the rudimentary infrastructure and high variability in prices.Farmers reported selling more crops, but when corrected for inflation, gross revenues declined over time. The cost and benefits of developing markets have been unevenly distributed with small holders unable to capitalize on market opportunities and wealthier farmers engaging in input intensive cash cropping. Farms growing vegetables had an sightly gross margin of US$137 per year compared to U S$12 per year for farms growing only staple crops.However, the area under production is small and, while vegetable production is likely to continue Key words Agriculture, Cash crops, Gross margin, Household economics, Market inequity, Poverty Introduction Cash cropping has been promoted by increase specialists as a mechanism to alleviate rural poverty in countries such as Nepal. Programs have capitalized on existing transportation networks, the proximity to urban centers or niche markets (Panday, 1992). But there are concerns that agricultural commercialization by-passes the poor.The cash and land quality requirements of capital intensive farming may limit the capacity of poorer farmers to invest, while the risks associated with yield and price variability may limit their willingness to participate in commercial production Both the Agricultural Perspective throw (APROSC, 1995) and the ninth National Plan (GON, 1998) of Nepal promote the intensification of ag riculture and increase cash crop production. In the Mid-hills of Nepal near Kathmandu, potato and tomato production have increased dramatically in the last 10 years (Brown and Shrestha, 2000).But, vegetable production is demanding of soil, water, and human resources. A systematic assessment of cash cropping is required to determine the impact on household well-being. The aims of this paper are five-fold 1) to determine the relative advantageousness of vegetable production in the Mid- hills of Nepal 2) to assess the economic impact of incorporating vegetables into the dominant cropping patterns 3) to break the variability between households 4) to assess the impact of fluctuations in price and 5) to evaluate temporal changes in household well-being with the incorporation of vegetable production.Methods The relative profitability of agricultural production between farms provides a mechanism to compare the economic status of farming households with diversified cropping s ystems. An indication of the profitability of each farm base be obtained by computing gross margins, defined as total deceases less total variable costs. Total returns are equal to the range of all crops produced (including crop residues), irrespective of whether the crop is sold. Total variable costs include the purchase of seed, fertilizer, and pesticides hiring oxen and all labor involved in cultivation activities. wear down includes the time spent in planting, irrigation, fertilizing, spraying, weeding, harvesting and transportation and selling and includes the opportunity cost of family labor. The gross margin can thus be viewed as the return to fixed costs (land and livestock) and management. Gross margin analysis, in this context, focuses on production or income with respect to agriculture. As it does not take into account the time value of money, gross margins are not sensitive to interest rates, and are a good first approximation of financial feasibility.