Description

Poster. Description: In winter of 2012, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was conducted in three Nepali villages in or near the Trisuli River valley and at two in-country research organizations. AHP was conducted with a total of 40 scientists and 41 randomly selected farmers. Expert Choice 11.5.829 was used to calculate results. Overall, soil quality (49%) was perceived as most important to the goal of improved income. This was followed by yield (25%), profit (14%), and labor savings (11%). Also in terms of improved income, CAPS 1 (cowpea monocrop with conventional tillage) was weighted highest (35%) and was followed by CAPS 3 (cowpea/millet intercrop with strip tillage; 34%), CAPS 2 (cowpea/millet intercrop with conventional tillage; 22%), and farmer practice (millet monocrop with conventional tillage 9%).

The organizations in this study preferred CAPS 3 over all others in terms of improved income. This met expectations as CAPS 3 is the only treatment that includes both strip tillage and legume intercropping. Hyrkrang and Thumka ranked CAPS 1 much higher than other CAPS, suggesting that the perceived advantages of intercropping or strip tillage have not been communicated through the extension system or carry unidentified costs for farmers, or both. A higher preference for CAPS 2 over CAPS 3 in terms of both improved income and soil quality in these villages indicates that farmers there perceive conventional tillage as having more monetary and edaphic value than strip tillage. The study concluded that both farmers and scientists show a preference for adoption of new production systems that can improve soil quality. However, the full benefits of legume intercropping and strip tillage may be unclear to village farmers. Moreover, labor savings is not a primary factor motivating the adoption of conservation agriculture production systems.