Abstract

A study was conducted on the economics of finger millet production and marketing in peri urban area of Pokhara valley of Nepal in 2006 AD. The sampling frame was 154 and 193 producers selected from Kalabang and Begnas study sites respectively. Sampling intensity of 30% was used to randomly select the population sample size which gave 47 for Kalabang and 58 for Begnas. Household survey was carried out to collect the primary information from the selected finger millet producers and traders by using the pre-tested interview schedules. The cost of production (NRs. 23847.60/ha) and gross revenue (NRs. 24638.23/ha) were significantly higher at Kalabang site than in Begnas. The productivity (1156.12 kg/ha) of finger millet was significantly higher in Kalabang. The price of finger millet was NRs. 16.91/kg at Kalabang and NRs. 17.35/kg at Begnas. Profit of finger millet cultivation was higher (NRs. 790.58/ha) at Kalabang than in Begnas (NRs 602.45/ha) while higher benefit cost ratio (1.05) was in Begnas. Share of female labor cost to total cost of cultivation was highest among cost factors in both sites. Share of male labor, female labor and fertilizer costs were positively significant to total revenue at Kalabang while only fertilizer and female labor costs were positively significant at Begnas. Direct marketing of finger millet from producers to the consumers was most frequent in rural areas while involvement of middlemen was common in the urban areas. Attack of rat to standing crop and damage by disease especially, blight were the major production problems.

Key words: Finger millet, production, marketing, Cobb-Douglas, elasticity coefficients.