Adoption and Economics of Improved Wheat Varieties in Eastern Nepal

A study was conducted to identify the productivity, profitability and adoption status of improved wheat varieties in Eastern Terai. A household survey was carried out in two districts of Eastern Terai viz. Morang and Saptari to collect information on the adoption of modern wheat varieties and economics of on-farm wheat production. In each district, two village development committees (VDCs) were selected to carry out the household survey. Structured questionnaire was administered to 20 randomly selected households in each VDC making altogether 80 samples in two districts. Descriptive and statistical tools including tobit model were used to analyze data. The tobit analysis showed that household with larger farm size was more likely to adopt improved wheat technology. About 60% of the total wheat area was covered by NL 297 followed by Gautam (15%) in Morang district, whereas in Saptari, 77% wheat area was covered by NL 297 followed by Vijay (15%) with average yield of 2.29 MT per hectare, the benefit cost ratio (1.25) indicated that wheat farming was profitable in the Eastern Terai.