AResearchon the Agricultural system of MulpaniMunicipality of Kathmandu valley.

Submitted By: Submitted To:Sanjaya Chauwal ( 014-639) Bharat GhimireDamodar Regmi (014-611) Nepal EngineeringSuman Karki (014-645) CollegeSagar Basel (014-636)Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Date : 2072/01/05Research period : 2071/12/20 - 2071/12/25

List of contents Page number

Appendix..............................................................1

Introduction..........................................................2

Objectives............................................................2

Methodology........................................................3

Results and Discussion.......................................3

Problems and constraints of the farmers.............9

Conclusions........................................................12

Glossary..............................................................13

Appendix.............................................................14

References..........................................................15

S.N List of Figure Page number

1) Barley production..................................................5

2) DY 28 Hybrid wheat............................................6

3) ARJUNA F1 Pumpkin...........................................6

4) Bullet Insecticide.................................................8

5) Pesticide labels...................................................8

6) Fertile land changed into plot for house..............9

7) Manohora River..................................................10

8) Organic fertilizer(zyme).......................................11

9) Urea Fertilizer......................................................11

10) DAP fertilizer........................................................11

11) Organic fertilizer....................................................11

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ABSTRACT

Agriculture is the main occupation and backbone of ourcountry.Around 67 % people are directly engaged inagriculture.This sector has great influence in our nationaleconomy,accounting for 38 percent of the GDP.Therefore,thedevelopment of agriculture sector is key for the developmentof national economy.Population increases and environmentaldegradation have ensured that the minimal gains in agri-cultural production owing more to the extension of arableland than to improvements in farming practices,have beencancelled out.

So,we studied the agricultural system of Mulpani municipalityto find out the socio-economic condition of farmers,barriers inagriculture,their awareness towards health and environment.

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1)INTRODUCTION

Mulpani is a municipality in Kathmandu district in the BagmatiZone of Nepal,previously known as Bhaimal.Mulpani issurrounded by Bagmati and Manohara river.Agriculture wasthe largest sector and the backbone of Mulpani municipalityand was the major source of livelihood of majority of thepopulation.It was the sector with practical potentiality forimproving the living conditions of the people.Most of thepeople used to fulfill their all household needs and evenmade some additional benefit from the agricultural practicesin the past.But,now farmers are gradually shifting fromagriculture to other alternative ways of sustenance.The landused for agriculture is now transforming into land for buildinghouse and factories.Shift from farming is seen because of thesocietal changes,unavailability of fertile land for agricultureand insufficient capital to invest agriculture.

Now,people do not have great interest in agriculture as thereis no benefit from it.This study tries to explore the causesbehind these problems in an objective way.

2)OBJECTIVES

The followings are the objectives of the study:

To study the socio-economic condition of the farmers. To document the shift from agricultural system. To find out problems and constraints of the farmers.

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3)METHODOLOGY

Primary data was used to carry out the research on theagricultural system of this place.We visited the field andgathered the information with recourse to the following waysand materials:Questionaire survey,seasonal calender andtime line series.

We prepared the questions related to agriculture system,production,benefits and many more related to it.Seasonalcalender and time line series helped to see the shifting trendsand productivity of the crops in comparative way.

4)RESULTSAND DISCUSSIONS

4.1)Changes in Socio-economic condition of the people:This municipality consists mainly of Brahmins and chhetris.Before 20 years,most of the land owners used to cultivatetheir land and only some people used to provide land in rentfor other people who arrived from other places.Since 5 yearsonwards,most of the land owner left to cultivate their land andthey provided in rent with some terms and conditions.So theland owners shifted from farming and other people get staredto farm.People started earning by selling the agriculturalproducts and also they even donot need to buy thevegetables.But the farmer couldnot get benefited from sellingthe products.There are lots of problems behind this cause.Gopal Shrestha(farmer since 23 years) says,“it costs aroundRs 15,000 for cultivating wheat in 1 ropani.We can getaround 450-600 Kg of wheat in 3.5 months which has valueof around Rs 21,000 in market.Now,there is no benefit fromfarming.We have to use pesticides and fertilizers which aredegrading fertile land,our health and environment”.This is

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also a another reason for shifting from agriculture.

Now,farmers are using hybrid seeds which has increased theproductivity.Although,farmers have knowledge that localseed’s products are tastier but they continue to cultivatehybrid seeds as hybrid seed’s productivity is high and germsattack is less frequently causing more productivity.Farmersare implementing new technologies,ideas with the help ofJTA.

4.2)Cropping patterns:The farmers at present started mixed cropping which yieldsmore products and also maintains the soil’s quality.The majorvegetable crops are soyabeans,maize,wheat,beans,spinach,bitterground,bhindi,tomato,pumpkin,cucumber in summerseason while barley,mustard,raddish,potato,cauliflower etc inwinter season.The farmers also started rotation of the crops.

4.3)Productivity:Before 5/6 years,people used to cultivate local seeds andlocal method for farming so that the production was less.Butnow people are aware and with the help of JTA and trainingsthey use hybrid seeds,technologies and chemical fertilizers.People used to cultivate ‘Khumal -8,khumal-10’(3.5 Kgs for 1ropani) wheat which has low productions(150-250 Kgs perropani) but now farmer use ‘DY-28’ (1 Kgs for 1 ropani)wheatwhich increased the production in large amount (500-700Kgsper ropani)which encouraged and helped people for earning.

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Fig 1: Barley production

Similary,they are cultivating ARJUNA-F1 variety of Pumpkinwhich has proven to be an extremely high yielder with well-developed plants.Not only increased the production but alsoit has high deficiency power against germs and are sweettaste which encourage farmer to cultivate this type of wheatbut local wheat is extincting.The use of science and moderntechnology to produce hybrid seeds, pesticides and fertilizershave increased the agricultural productivity,which is a goodaspect however the nutrition value of such food hasdecreased compared to the traditionally grown crops.

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Figure 2:DY 28 Hybrid wheat Fig 3:ARJUNA F1 Pumpkin

4.4)Use of fertilizers and pesticides:Before 2063,farmers used chemical fertilizer and pesticidesin less amount in their crops.But now people use chemicalfertlizers and toxic pesticides in large amount to increase theproduction which is harmful for both farmer and environment.According to JTA,the chemical fertilizers used in land must bein proportion amount.But farmer used only urea(Nitrogen=46%) and dung of cows which also consists of urea.They useurea as it is cheap and think that using urea only canincrease production rate but in fact it is false fact.Imbalanceuse of chemical fertilizers has ruined the productivity andfertility of fertile land.Farmers use very stong pesticide to killthe harmful insects but it is also killing the very useful insectslike earthworm and its ecosystem.

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Fig 4:Bullet Insecticide

Different types of diseases has seen at present in cropswhich was totally unknown in the past.The major problemsare created by fertilizers and pesticides which have long termeffects on fertility of soil and consumers health.Manyfertilizers create disturbance in ecosystem as well.Some ofthe pesticide and insectides used by farmers in their land are:

Name of pesticide composition Toxic labelBullet Chlorpyrifos,

cypermethrinYellow

Acmekick Triazophos,deltamethrin

Yellow

Chlorthrin Alphacypermethrinchlorpyrifos.

Yellow

Toxixity according to label of Pesticides determinded by WHOis listed below:

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Label Name Level of toxicity

Red label Extremely toxic

Yellow label Highly toxic

Blue label Moderately toxic

Green label Slightly toxic

Government has banned those insecticides and pesticideswith red label.Only very few of them are being used.

Fig 5:Pesticide label

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5)PROBLEMSAND CONSTRAINTS OF FARMERS

5.1)Land fragmentation and Problem of Irrigation:Land in Mulpani Municipality is continuoulsy fragmented asthe population is increasing.It is very difficult to use tractorsand other farming machines in such fragmented land.Landhas also been implicitly affected because of the excessiveuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers with intent if largeproduction.Now,land planning is increasing which ultimatelydecreasing the fertile and cultivable land.

Fig 6:Fertile land changed into plot for house

Thers is no problem for irrigation in summer season due torainfall.But there is problem in winter season where thereoccurs no rainfall.But Manohara rivers flows touchingagricultural areas,farmers manage passage of water forfarming.They also use tube well for irrigation.But sometimesthe river dry and drought occurs causing loss in production.

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Fig 7: Manohora River

5.2)Lack of awareness:Farmers used chemical fertilizers and pesticides rapidly.Theyeven dont know how harmful and useful is that pesticide.They just want to kill the pests and increase the production.But also they dont know that killing pests means both harmfuland useful too,so this is directly decreasing rate of productionand use of excesive urea is decreasing the quality of fertileland in high amount.Now,farmer are getting the results of itand are being aware after trainings and experiences.

So,farmers are using DAP,organic fertilizers (bonemeal,molasses,wormy wash,sargassum gaumutra) and naturalway of killing pests like using neems.

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Fig 8:Organic fertilizer(zyme) Fig 9: Urea Fertilizer

Figure 10:DAP fertilizer

Fig 11:Organic fertilizer

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6)CONCLUSIONS

Agriculture is the main occupation of this municipality.Butmost of the farmer donot have their own land,so they have totake it in rent.Educational awareness and social changes innew generation has decreased the involvement of the youthsin agricultural activities.Mechanization in agriculture is clearlyseen by the use of tractors,threshers.Since,many farmers areuneducated and dont know about new concept,technologythey used traditional way of farming so they were lessbenefited from the production.But with the trainings and withthe help of JTA they have shifted to intercropping and mixedcropping from mono cropping that leads huge production

Using only hybrid seeds has deteriorating the importance oflocal seeds and even some extint already.The Agriculturecorporation should provide better facilities and trainingincluding seminars to all the farmers so that they can upliftand even mulpani municipality.Poor technical skills andcapacity in managing complex problem in the farm land,insufficient organic technology to support production,lack ofresearch on processing and certification,poor investmentcapacity,small and fragmented land holding and less riskbearing capacity etc are the key constraints for doingagriculture.So,it is necessary to address these problemsinstantly for the betterment of the farmers.

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GLOSSARY

1)Sustenance :Means of livelihood.

2)Constraints:Limitation or restriction.

3)Hybrid:The offspring of two plants of different breeds,species,varieties or generaespecially as produced throughhuman manipulation for specific genetic characteristics.

4)Extinct:The fact or condition of being extinguished.

5)Pesticides:Chemical preparation for destroying plant,fungal or animal pests.

6)Fertilizers:Any substance used to fertilize the soil,especially a commercial or chemical manure.

7)Ecosystem:A system or a group of interconnectedelements,formed by theinteraction of a community oforganisms with theirenvironment.

8)Insecticide:A substance or preparation used for killinginsects.

9)Molasses:A thick syrup produced during the refining ofsugar or from sorghum,varying from light to dark brown incolor.

10)Bonemeal:Bones ground to a coarse powder,used asfertilizer.

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APPENDIX

1)DAP: Diammonium phosphate (chemical formula:(NH4)2HPO4,IUPAC name diammonium hydrogenphosphate).

2)JTA :Agriculture Technician.

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REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulpani,_Kathmandu

http://www.eastwestseed.com/china/en/