International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.2, 89-98 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 89 Research Article Open Access Economics of Production and Marketing for French Bean in Kalikot District (Tilagupha Municipality), Nepal Susma Adhikari 1 , Arati Chapai 2 , Shova Shrestha1, Nisha Bhandari 1,2, Prativa Acharya1, Kiran Thapa1, Shasi Kumar Keshari 1 1 College of Natural Resource Management, Bardibas, Mahottrai, Nepal 2 Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal Corresponding authors: adksushma01@gmail.com; chapaiarati100@gmail.com International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.2 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0010 Received: 21 Mar., 2024 Accepted: 18 Apr., 2024 Published: 30 Apr., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Adhikari et al., This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Adhikari S., Chapai A., Shrestha S., Bhandari N., Acharya P., Thapa K., and Keshari S.K., 2024, Economics of production and marketing for French bean in Kalikot District (Tilagupha Municipality), Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 14(2): 89-98 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0010) Abstract The research, conducted from February to July 2023 in Tilagupha municipality, Kalikot, Nepal, focused on French bean production and marketing. Sixty participants were surveyed using a stratified sampling technique. Primary data, gathered through household surveys, interviews, and field visits revealed insights into the agricultural landscape. Bean cultivation occurs once a year on small farms averaging 17.16 ropani, with 30.33% of land dedicated to beans. The average yield was 658.2 kg/ha, below the reported ADO Kalikot figure (1477 kg/ha). Production cost was Rs. 21,054.7 per ropani, with a return of Rs. 75,240 and a benefit-cost ratio of 1.20. Most producers (61.3%) were satisfied with bean prices. Challenges included diseases, pests, lack of irrigation, and limited marketing information, obtained mostly from neighbors (94.8%). The average retail price was Rs. 250 per kg, with a marketing margin of Rs. 78.34 per kg. Lack of market information was a significant issue in bean marketing. Keywords Production; Beans; Economics; Marketing; Sampling; Significant; Market Introduction Kalikot, a part of Karnali province one of the seventy seven districts of Nepal with land topography of mountains, hills, and valleys. It lies at an altitude ranging from about 730 m to 4,790 m above sea level. It lies at latitude 29֯5'N and longitude 82'02'E covering an area of 1,641 km2 including 4 municipalities and 5 rural municipalities (Jumla/Kalikot, 2078). The climatic zone of Kalikot ranges from Upper Tropical to Alpine with drizzling rainfall from March to Oct and receives snow from Nov-Jan (DADO, 2020). It is known as the organic district of Nepal producing apples, walnuts, peaches, pears, beans, lime, etc. An important cereal includes paddy, maize, wheat, millet, and barley. Vegetables include cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, leafy vegetables, etc both seasonal and off seasonal. Kalikot, besides apple and potato, is also well known for Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). The total production of beans in Kalikot district is 981 mt in a 3,926 ha area under production (MoALD, 2020). Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is the most important leguminous crop widely grown from Terai to the high hills of Nepal. The bean of Jumla/ Kalikot, also known as ‘Jumli simi’, is an indigenous crop of the Karnali region which is highly diversified (Bhujel et al., 2013). In Nepal, it is cultivated in 32,262 ha. of land with production of 39,320 mt. and productivity of 1,218 kg/ha. It is grown as a sole crop, intercrop with maize, or in apple orchards too (MoALD, 2020). Bean of Karnali is preferred by consumers over other beans because of its taste and nutritive value. 100 grams of dried beans contains 16.54-25.23 g of protein and 0.33-1.33 g of fat (Cominelli et al., 2022). Similarly, 63 g of carbohydrate is found in 100 g of bean. Dry bean is consumed as soup. It is easy to cultivate, store and transport, has high nutritive value, and fetch good market price, so farmers of Tilagufa rural municipality and other areas cultivate beans in a large area. It has the potential to be cash crop and exported out of Kalikot. But the vast difference in national and regional production is a result of use of poor quality seed, lack of irrigation, fertilizers and inappropriate land management. Also the bean cultivation is centered in marginal upland only with no provision of irrigation facilities and poor crop management practices afterwards. There is no specific management practices for different insects-pest and diseases. Bean crop suffers severe drought especially during flowering period which is water critical stage of bean. This has resulted in low production. Lack of quality seeds and organic
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