Author:
Anusha Subedi, Dinesh Khanal, Mamata Kumari Neupane, Jyoti Ghimire, Padmawati Tiwari, Sushil Dahal

Doi: 10.26480/amdn.02.2025.42.49

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

The survey was conducted in June 2024 in the Kavrepalanchok district’s Panchkhal municipality (ward number 2 and 3). Survey research method was used to collect data from 86 respondents chosen from a sample frame of tomato farmers obtained from the annual report of Agriculture Development Office, Dhulikhel. Each 43-tunnel house and open field tomato growers were selected randomly and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary information. The study revealed that out of total respondents selected in the study site, 53.49% of the household heads were female and 88.37% of them were Hindu. Majority of the tunnel house growers (51.16%) had the farming experience of “5 to 10 years” while open field growers had more than “10 years” of tomato farming experience with agriculture as main income source. Similarly, the average land coverage under tunnel house and open field tomato cultivation was 4.11 Ropani and 3.55 Ropani respectively (1 hectare is equivalent to 19.65 Ropani). Furthermore, Srijana was the most preferred variety by tunnel house tomato growers while majority of open field tomato growers adopted Dalila variety in the study area. Only 32.56% and 27.91% of the open field tomato growers had access to training and subsidy respectively which is significantly lower than that of tunnel house tomato farming system. The study results also showed that the total cost of growing tomato per Ropani (NRs. 48104.66) in tunnel house which was 51.12% higher than that incurred in the open field system (NRs. 23359.75). The gross return and gross revenue from tunnel house system were respectively 56.29% and 66.02% higher than that from open field tomato farming system. Similarly, the average selling price of tomato received by tunnel house farmer is also 40.34% higher than that received by open field tomato growers. Cobb-Douglas production function analysis was used to analyze, factor productivity and particularly seed, chemical fertilizer, farm yard manure, tillage, labor, pesticide and plant protection equipment were used as independent variables. Among the factor cost, chemical fertilizer, plant protection equipment cost and pesticide cost were found to be the significant contributor total revenue in tunnel house farming system while pesticide cost, chemical fertilizer cost and tillage cost were the major contributor of total revenue from open field farming system. Incidence of disease and insect/pests were found to be a major problem under both farming systems.