The research, conducted in 2023, focused on Dhurkot rural municipality, a mandarin-growing zone lying between latitudes 28°04’08.76″N and longitudes 83°18’24.84″E at an average altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. The team surveyed 80 households drawn by simple random sampling from a registered sampling frame of 385 mandarin farmers listed in the database of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project, the largest undertaking of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Sample size was calculated using Cochran’s formula at a 95 percent confidence level with a 5 percent margin of error. Data collection combined structured interviews with key informant interviews and focus group discussions, and the resulting dataset was analyzed descriptively using MS Excel and SPSS version 23.0. To prioritize the problems farmers face, the researchers computed an index of importance from farmers’ ranked perceptions of each constraint.

The demographic picture that emerged is one of an aging, experienced and predominantly male farming population. Men made up 76.2 percent of respondents, and the largest age cohort, 41.3 percent, fell between 46 and 60 years old. Only 7.5 percent of those surveyed were between 18 and 30, a striking signal that young people are largely absent from the orchards. Farming experience ran deep: 62.5 percent of respondents had worked their mandarin groves for more than 15 years, while just 1.25 percent had entered the enterprise within the past five years. Educational attainment was modest, with 71.3 percent reporting only primary schooling and 2.5 percent education beyond class 10. Agriculture was the primary income source for 78.8 percent of households, and the average land holding of 0.72 hectares exceeded the national average of 0.55 hectares, though 83.75 percent of farms covered more than 0.25 hectares.

Understanding the soils themselves proved central to the study. Farmers reported three dominant soil types across the orchards: luvisols, reported by 61.25 percent of respondents; cambisols, reported by 36.25 percent; and sandy gravel soils, reported by 2.5 percent. All three are highly prone to erosion under the intense monsoon conditions of the mid-hills. Despite this, soil testing was strikingly rare. Some 72.5 percent of farmers had never conducted a soil test in their orchards, only 18.8 percent tested occasionally, and a mere 1.3 percent determined fertilizer doses based on soil tests and formal analysis. Just 15 percent had measured soil pH and only 2.5 percent had performed nutrient analysis. Instead, 21.3 percent of farmers relied on personal experience to decide fertilizer rates and 20 percent followed the recommendations of agro-input dealers, practices that risk both under- and over-application of nutrients.

Nutrient management in the orchards leaned heavily toward organic inputs. A majority of farmers, 58.75 percent, applied only organic manure, while 40 percent used an integrated nutrient management approach combining organic and inorganic sources; just 1.25 percent relied exclusively on chemical fertilizers. Farmyard manure doses rose steadily with tree age, from an average of about 4 kilograms per plant in the first year to nearly 47 kilograms per plant by the sixth year and beyond. Among chemical fertilizers, urea was the universal nitrogen source, while diammonium phosphate, single super phosphate and muriate of potash supplied phosphorus and potassium in escalating annual doses. Notably, farmers reported that organic fertilizers improved yield, fruit quality and shelf life, an observation consistent with soil nutrient trials on other crops. Micronutrients were also widely used, with 91.3 percent of respondents applying them, foliar zinc being the most common, reflecting the well-documented importance of micronutrient nutrition in citrus productivity.

The headline finding of the study is the remarkably high adoption of soil conservation practices. Fully 96.2 percent of respondents had adopted at least one conservation measure in their orchards. Terracing and cover cropping led the list at 95 percent, followed by sod culture and liming at 40 percent each, minimum tillage at 36.2 percent, contour farming at 31.3 percent, and integrated plant nutrient system adoption at 31.2 percent. Traditional techniques persisted alongside modern ones: stone bunds, mulching, terrace ditches, bamboo fencing and the planting of local trees and grasses remained common features of the hillside orchards. Mulching was overwhelmingly organic, with 85 percent of practitioners using maize straw, grasses or forest litter, applied most often yearly and timed to the dry months from December to April when soil moisture is low. Only 1.3 percent used plastic mulch, and hand-hoeing dominated weed control at 98.8 percent, with synthetic herbicides nearly absent.

Farmers themselves reported tangible payoffs from these practices. Some 55.84 percent said conservation measures had visibly reduced soil erosion on their land, 41.56 percent reported increased yields, and smaller shares noted reduced moisture stress and lower labor requirements. A strong majority, 81 percent, agreed that soil conservation practices delivered concrete economic benefits through reduced production costs and higher farm income while curbing erosion, landslides and localized fertility decline. Awareness was similarly high: 95 percent of respondents recognized soil degradation and its consequences for mandarin production, identifying heavy monsoon rainfall as the principal driver, and noting outcomes such as short-term fertility losses and higher yields of poorer fruit quality. Yet only 31.2 percent were familiar with the negative effects of chemical fertilizers on soil health, pointing to a knowledge gap in nutrient stewardship.

Adoption, however, was far from frictionless. A striking 78 percent of respondents described soil conservation practices as time-consuming and cumbersome, and only 21.3 percent, typically the more educated farmers, expressed willingness to adopt new conservation technologies. When problems were ranked, the lack of proper irrigation and quality inputs such as planting materials, fertilizers, pesticides and tools emerged as the most serious constraint, followed by diseases and pests, poor extension services regarding soil conservation, inadequate marketing facilities and annual fruit drop. Water scarcity plagued 88.2 percent of respondents, who coped through traditional drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting and improved drainage. The study also identified weak links in the wider value chain: mandarin marketing in the area was described as unorganized and prone to seasonal gluts, lacking systematic post-harvest technology, transportation and storage infrastructure.

The analysis made clear that awareness and adoption of conservation practices were shaped by a cluster of factors, including farming expertise, education, training participation, landholding size and contact with extension agents. These findings echo earlier research on technology adoption in smallholder systems, which consistently finds that extension contact and capacity building are decisive in shifting farmer perceptions. The authors conclude that strengthening the frequency and quality of extension services, delivering knowledge through radio, television, newspapers and social media down to the grassroots level, and formulating strategic plans to address the constraints farmers face are essential steps. They also recommend blending indigenous practices such as mulching, stone bunds and contour farming with modern approaches including scientific orchard layout, sod culture, sloping agricultural land technology and integrated plant nutrient management.

The stakes extend well beyond Gulmi. Citrus contributes about 21.61 percent of Nepal’s total fruit production, and mandarins alone accounted for 185,346 metric tons from 19,481 hectares nationally in the 2021/22 fiscal year, with Gulmi producing 7,164 metric tons from 597 hectares. Yet the Nepal Agriculture Research Council has warned of a broad citrus decline affecting orchards nationwide, driven in part by neglected soil and poor orchard management that stunt tree growth and invite pests and disease. With agriculture employing 57.1 percent of Nepal’s population and contributing nearly 24 percent of GDP, the fate of hillside mandarin orchards is a matter of national economic weight. This study suggests that the knowledge and the practices needed to sustain them already exist among farmers; the challenge now is to close the extension gap so that conservation becomes the rule rather than the exception across Nepal’s citrus hills.

Subject of Research: Adoption of soil conservation practices among mandarin farmers in Gulmi district, Nepal

Article Title: Adoption of soil conservation practices by mandarin ( Citrus reticulata B.) farmers in Gulmi, Nepal

Article References: Khang, K., Yadav, M., & Jha, M. K. (2024). Adoption of soil conservation practices by mandarin (Citrus reticulata B.) farmers in Gulmi, Nepal. Innovations in Agriculture, 7, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3897/ia.2024.134984

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/ia.2024.134984

Keywords: soil conservation, mandarin orange, Nepal, citrus farming, soil erosion, Gulmi district, extension services, orchard management, terracing, mulching, integrated nutrient management, smallholder farmers