Writer: Bikram Chaulagain
Bhimeshwor Municipality, 4- Dolakha
Study: completed Isc Ag
Agriculture technician
The farmers in Nepal produce different kinds of crops , vegetables,fruits etc. So agriculture is backbone of our country. They should not know importance of modern agriculture ,so the government should make better to improve our agriculture system.Growing demand of vegetable is increasing day by day due to a major shift by people living in the country to healthy food.Vegetables have become an integral part of a balanced diet and play a vital role in providing nutritional security. A wide range of agro-ecological variation creates more advantage for the production of different types of vegetable crops.
Off- season vegetable farming refers to the production of fresh vegetables before or after their normal season of production.The consumers can get fresh vegetables during off season.Off –season vegetables produced during rainy season fetch high prices due to short supply and high demand.Some areas in the mid hills have been able to produce vegetable in a large scale enough to supply in markets.Cabbage , cauliflower,cucumber,tomato,radish ,brinjal,chilli,onion are the major off –season vegetables of Nepal.Among them cultivation of tomato, cauliflower,cabbage and onion are the most popular as well as profitable.Nowadays the demand of off-season vegetables in Kathmandu,Bhaktapur,lalitpur,Pokhara,chitwan etc cities increasing but the increase in production has been decreases because lack of fertilizers,lack of knowledge about introduction of new implements &new seeds of high yield varieties.Farmers face problems like high post harvest losses,fluction in demand as well as price .Mostly mid region dristrict are important location where farmers have successfully grown off-season vegetables, have established good markets in all around Nepal.
The production season of off-season vegetables varies depending on topographic as well as climatic conditions .The major season is grown in Table;
Types of vegetable Growing season
Cauliflower Jan- Mar
Cucumber Apr- Nov
Tomato year round
Cabbage year round
Advantage of off –season vegetable production:
There are good potentialities to export off-season vegetables to the neighboring countries where they cannot produce them due to the climatic regions.This plays an important role in national economy as we earn foreign exchange.
It provides more farm employment to rural population.
Vegetables can be grown in kitchen gardens ,roofs etc. This increase the asthetic value 7provides fresh vegetables. It also utilize waste products of home.
The farmers can develop confidence 7make vegetables production as their main profession.
The consumers can get fresh vegetables during off-season.
Vegetables crops give more yield per unit area as compared to cerealscrops. so, farmers can get higher profits from off-season production.
Dis-advantage:
In many areas of country ,there is scarcity of water & there is no proper irrigation facilioties therefore vegetabels have not been grown successfully.
It required highly specialized techniques of vegetables productions.
Small and marginal farmers are not able to purchase hybrid seeds because of high cost.
Lack of market facilities,planning of production,infrastructure for preventing the post harvest losses,knowledge and training to farmer.
Sometimes it become a risky .
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