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Communities and Livelihood Strategies in Developing Countries pp 49–64Cite as

Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in the Tarai Region of Nepal

Abstract

Rice is the most important cereal crop of Nepal from the perspectives of food security and livelihood. In spite of this, its yield is quite low and there is still wide gap between potential and national average rice yields. One of the reasons for this is poor adoption of improved rice varieties in farming communities. In this chapter, we analyzed the status of improved rice varieties adoption, sources of improved rice varieties in the farming communities, and influence of socio-economic variables on the adoption of improved rice varieties. The data for the study was collected from 180 households covering three Tarai districts, Siraha, Chitwan and Kailali, of Nepal from October to November 2011. A binary logistic regression was employed to analyze the data, and the adoption of improved varieties was defined from the perspective of whether farmers buy seed from the market or not. The result shows that, in 72.7 % of cases, farmers adopt improved varieties, and these varieties consist of both modern varieties and farmers’ varieties. Farmers buy these varieties from various sources though neighboring farmers and agrovet are the most popular sources. Farmers’ behavior in adopting these varieties is mainly explained by irrigation facility, household’s membership in community-based organizations, and seed price.

Keywords

  • Binary logistic model
  • Food security
  • Improved rice varieties
  • Nepal

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Fig. 4.1
Fig. 4.2
Fig. 4.3
Fig. 4.4

Notes

  1. 1.

    SRR is the proportion of seed supplied in the area with reference to the total seed required

  2. 2.

    Marginal effect = p(1−p)β, where p—probability of occurring the event, and β is the parameter estimated from the model.

  3. 3.

    LSU is the aggregates of different types of livestock kept at household in standard unit calculated using the following equivalents; 1 adult buffalo = 1 LSU, I immature buffalo = 0.5 LSU, 1 cow = 0.8 LSU, 1 calf = 0.4 LSU, 1 pig = 0.3 LSU, 1sheep or goat = 0.2 LSU and 1 poultry or pigeon = 0.1 LSU (CBS 2003; Baral 2005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan

    Narayan Prasad Khanal & Keshav Lall Maharjan

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  1. Narayan Prasad Khanal
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  2. Keshav Lall Maharjan
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Correspondence to Narayan Prasad Khanal .

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  1. Hiroshima University, Hiroshima University, Japan

    Keshav Lall Maharjan

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Khanal, N.P., Maharjan, K.L. (2014). Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in the Tarai Region of Nepal. In: Maharjan, K. (eds) Communities and Livelihood Strategies in Developing Countries. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54774-7_4

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