Tomato production in Nawalparasi East district, Nepal: Socio-economic, marketing, institutional, and constraint analysis

A survey was conducted to assess the socio-economics, marketing, institutional involvement and problems of the production of tomato in Nawalparasi East District, Nepal. Among the tomato farmers of Kawasoti Municipality - 17 and Madhyabindhu Municipality - 1, 94 farmers were selected for the survey. Data were collected through a household survey using a semi-structured questionnaire, and analyzed using Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics software. Various descriptive methods, like mean, standard deviation, and frequency, were used in the analysis of data and diagrams like bar graphs and charts for the visualization of the data. Cost, net return, gross return, and benefit-cost ratio were calculated to understand the economics of tomato production. The average cost of tomato production in the study site was NRs. 3,90,500.15 (2808.42 USD) per hectare. Human labour, fertilizer, and mulching were significant contributors to the cost of production of tomatoes. Similarly, net margin and benefit-cost ratio were found to be NRs. 127534.85 (917.21 USD) per hectare and 1.33. Producer → Wholesale Market → Retailer → Consumer was the most dominant, and 60 % of the farmers have received training for the production of tomatoes through different organizations. Also, 69 % of them were getting some kind of subsidy on seed, mulching, and irrigation facilities through different institutions. The major production and marketing problems were incidence of disease and pests, unavailability of quality seeds, high middleman margin, and price fluctuation. However, the study indicated that tomato production is a highly potential agricultural enterprise for the study area.