Value Chain Analysis Of Kiwifruit (Actinidia Spp.) In Dolakha District, Nepal

Kiwifruit is one of the emerging, and high value fruit crops having tremendous nutritional and medicinal value that is being popular in Nepal. Under this context, research was done with the objective to carry out an in-depth value chain analysis of kiwifruit sub-sector in Dolakha district, Nepal. A total of 72 respondents, including 60 kiwifruit growers, 2 nursery owners, 2 wholesalers, 5 retailers and 3 consumers were selected for interview by using simple random sampling technique. Economic analysis revealed kiwifruit cultivation was running as a profitable agriculture enterprise in the district with the benefit-cost ratio value of 3.2. Additionally, kiwifruit production alone had 27.2% contribution in annual household income of growers. Five different marketing channels were observed, and majority of producers were found selling kiwifruit to consumers directly. On an average price spread was NRs. 87.4 per kg and producer’s share was 73.24% in existing marketing channels. Value addition activities such as grading, packaging, and processing were relatively poor in the study area. Furthermore, indexing identified inadequate technical knowledge and lack of storage facility as the major problems associated with production and marketing of kiwifruit, respectively. The findings of this research suggests that farmers are to be focused more on quality improvement practices and concerned authorities to prioritize their support in establishing proper marketing mechanism through provision of storage structures, processing units with least possible involvement of market intermediaries would be the best course of action to enhance future production and marketing of kiwifruit in the region.