ISSN 2375-1096
International Journal of Agroforestry and Silviculture ISSN 2375-1096 Vol. 2 (5), pp. 135-143, May, 2015. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Challenges of Asparagus racemosus marketing in Nepal: A study from Sarlahi district
Sapkota Rajeev Devi
Institute of Forestry (IOF), Pokhara, Kaski, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: [email protected].
Accepted 04 February, 2015
Abstract
Asparagus is a valuable medicinal plant. Most of its parts are useful. Its tender leaves and shoots are mostly cooked as vegetable. Root tubers are used as sex tonic and cure many diseases. But its markets and price rate were unstable. So, this paper focuses on marketing channels and the trends of price, quantity and income obtained as well as suitable months for harvesting. Forty percent of total cultivators’ households were randomly selected from the eleven village development committee of Sarlahi District. Both primary data using Participatory Rural Appraisal tools and secondary data from different sources were collected and analyzed in MS-Excel. Suitable marketing channels were developed through group discussions of cultivators, officials and businessmen separately. The trend of price rate of Asparagus racemosus Willd. was increasing to Nepalese rupees (NRs) 225.00 per kilogram in 2008 from NRs 104.00 per kilogram in 2004, whereas price rate of A. racemosus hybrid was almost stable that is NRs 80.00 from 2004 to 2006 and NRs 120.00 from 2007 to 2008. March and April were found to be the suitable months of harvesting and March is the best month for harvesting of cultivated Asparagus to have the highest yield and availability of markets.
Key words: Asparagus racemosus, markets, trend, cultivators, Nepalese rupees.