An assessment of constraints faced by the farmers in peri-urban vegetable cultivation
This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences identifies key production constraints faced in peri-urban vegetable cultivation in India. The constraints in practicing peri-urban agriculture were enlisted from practicing farmers, agricultural scientists, and also from literature. Further, all the identified constraints were categorized into five groups: technological, economic, labour, marketing and environmental constraints. Among the technological constraints the most important constraint was unavailability of inputs including fertilizers at the right time, followed by lack of suitable varieties. Unavailability of labour at the harvest season was the foremost among the labour constraints. Other important production constraints are attack by insects and pests; heavy incidence of diseases; perishable nature of the product market and price fluctuations; and high costs of fertilizers, manures, plant protection chemicals and labour. It was obvious that all the enlisted constraints were important in one way or the other. However, still those related to the technological aspects had a major role in creating obstacles to peri-urban agriculture. The following suggestions were mentioned by the farmers to solve the constraints in peri-urban agriculture: more government shops or centers should be opened to ensure adequate and timely supply of inputs at fair price; infrastructural facilities for post-harvest management should be strengthened; procedure and official formalities for getting loan from the bank should be simplified; and proper demonstration of the new technologies should be made.