Socio-economic analysis of ginger production in Terhathum district, Province no. 1, Nepal

Abstract

Terhathum is one of the major ginger-producing districts in Nepal. This study with the objective of analyzing the socio-economic status of ginger growing farmers in the Terhathum district investigates the production economics of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rose.) and the socioeconomic status of ginger producing farmers. The semi-structured interview schedule was administered to interview randomly selected commercial ginger-producing households in Myanglung municipality, Phedap rural municipality, and Menchhayayem rural municipality with 35, 39, and 17 respondents from each of the locations respectively. The overall productivity of ginger in the study area was found to be 19.3 MT/ha. The major cost-share for ginger production was found to be held by rhizomes used in the plantation (40.01%). The results indicated that ginger production was a profitable enterprise in the study area with an average B: C ratio of 3.77. The Cobb-Douglas production function indicated that ginger production exhibit increasing returns to scale at a decreasing rate. Rhizome quantity and amount of organic manure applied in the field played a major role in increasing the gross margin of the production. The goodness of fit was 52.3% with a return to scale of 0.714. Indexing technique identified incidence of diseases and pests and the instability of price as the major problems associated with production and trade of ginger. Overall, the study revealed that ginger production was a profitable and potential agriculture enterprise for the study area.