Market information services and farmers' decision making process in vegetable marketing of Syangja and Tanahun Districts of Nepal | |
| Author | Thing, Amar Bahadur |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-09-10 |
| Subject(s) | Vegetables--Marketing--Nepal Farmers--Decision making--Nepal |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This is a comparative study between the two areas with and without project interventions on market information services. This study mainly focused on assessing the availability of market information services and their uses at the farmers‟ level, existing farmers‟ decision making process for vegetable marketing and the impact of market information on prices of the vegetables. This research was conducted in three VDCs of Syangja and Tanahun district. Information was collected from the vegetable producer farmers and concerned stakeholders from the local, regional and national level. Structured questionnaire together with key informant interview, group discussions and observations were applied to gather essential information. Altogether 135 vegetable farmers interviewed for this research purpose. The small holder farmers whose transaction is limited both in terms of quantity and „geographically‟ to the local markets can not access to market information as the large farmers can do. Thus, they need market information services (MIS) and their needs are not only the information on price but also on market place, buyers and market demands. Farmers need these information within a particular market zone. MIS covering distant markets has no value for them. The existing MIS as it concerns mainly on the price information has weak delivery system for information. Therefore, the information covered by the existing MIS system are irrelevant for the local level farmers. The problems in the existing MIS are weak dissemination, inadequate coverage of information and lack of proper coordination between and among the information service providers. Farmers, rather relying on these sources, are managing their information requirement through the interpersonal communication within their group members and neighbors. Lead farmers, villagers and group members are the major sources of communication in the villages. Lead farmers play crucial roles in collecting and disseminating the information in the groups however the question remains on reliability of such information. Organizing farmers in groups strengthens interpersonal communication so increasing information sharing among the villagers. Active or passiveness of these groups and group members determines the effectiveness of such communication. Small holder farmers‟ access to market can be increased through organized collection and marketing system of vegetables however access to reliable market information service is necessary to strengthen bargaining power of the farmers so as to ensure better prices. Thus, in view of potential roles of farmers‟ groups in market access and accessing other services such as market information and extension supports, two main recommendations are proposed. The first one is about further strengthening of these groups and the second is about decentralizing the dissemination of existing MIS. |
| Year | 2009 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Thapa, Gopal Bahadur |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soparth Pongquan;Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | ADA, Austria |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009 |