Factors affecting awareness on good agriculture practices among citrus growers in Palpa, Nepal: Through binary logistic regression approach

Abstract

Being an indigenous high-value commodity, with significant market demand in the mid-hills of Nepal, citrus requires the incorporation of sustainable techniques in orchard to increase fruit production. For farmers in Nepal, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) is a novel concept. The majority of farmers are unaware of it, and those who are aware also have not fully embraced the techniques. Therefore, the study was conducted in summer 2022 to assess the factors that affect the awareness of GAP among the farmers at Palpa, Nepal. Rainadevi Chahara and Ribdikot rural municipality of Palpa district, Nepal was purposively selected, and altogether, 64 commercial citrus growers from the municipalities were taken by simple random sampling technique. The binary logistic regression model was used for analyzing the effect of different variables on the awareness of GAP among citrus growers. Different demographic and socioeconomic variables have been found associated for odds of being GAP aware. The findings revealed that, farmers’ who are GAP aware have an access to trainings and contact with extension agents, 4.164 and 10.293 times higher than those farmers who are GAP unaware respectively. Therefore, the study suggests that farmers knowledge on GAP can be further expanded through trainings and frequent contact with extension agents as they are the major factors affecting commercial citrus growers’ awareness to GAP in Palpa district, Nepal.