International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 18-30 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 29 Table 15 Ranking of the problems faced by Mandarin growers in the survey area, 2022 Production problems P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Index value Rank Occurrence of diseases and pests 63 27 3 4 1 0.9 I Lack of knowledge on improved production 50 26 10 8 4 0.82 II Lack of irrigation facilities 34 31 25 7 1 0.78 III Unavailability of production materials 27 34 15 13 9 0.72 IV Lack of insurance and subsidy 19 28 32 16 3 0.69 V Note: P: signifies the priority of the problem according to severity; index value (1-0) denotes major to minor problem (Source: Field Survey, 2022) 2.9 SWOT analysis SWOT in Mandarin was addressed by conducting FGDs and KII among personnel of the implementation committee of PMAMP, PIU- and AKC, Syangja (Figure 7). Progressive farmers’ opinion was also included. Figure 7 SWOT analysis in Mandarin 3 Conclusion GAP is a driving factor for enhancing production efficiency in Mandarin and several other commodities by ensuring safe food production, environment management, and long–term sustainability. Mandarin cultivation in Syangja governs the major basis of dependence of farmers for their socioeconomic upgrade and income. However, the farmers seem to conceptualize and follow the GAP and its standards to some limited extent to only some criteria of planting material and soil additives. They also lack irrigation and other plant protection-based knowledge which has raised the problem of disease and pests in the mandarin orchards. Thus, it brings a need to take the lead from the government, policymakers, NGOs, and other fruit production-related authorities, in cooperation with the PMAMP superzone and farmers of Syangja through training, subsidies, field–based observance, and recommendations to influence the farmers to adhere to and adopt the mentioned modules of GAP. Author’s contributions NA was involved in framing the research idea, designing the experiments, data analysis, and interpretation. KA was involved in the supervision of the research and the review process of the manuscript. NA, along with KB, KA PA, SP, and DPC supported in experiment conduct, drafting, and final shaping of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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