Issues and challenges faced by the kiwifruit growers in Phek district of Nagaland

Abstract

Kiwi is one of the focus horticultural crops of Nagaland. The fruit is commercially grown in districts like Phek, Kohima and Zunheboto. The varieties grown are Hayward, Allison and Bruno. Phek district covered the largest area of cultivation with 109.00 ha in the year 2020-2021 in Nagaland. Yet, with so much potential and future prospects, the farmers faced challenges and issues in their farming. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of ranking different problems faced by the farmers in Phek district, Nagaland, with a total of 120 respondents. Information regarding their problems is procured from the farmers through a structured interview schedule. To find out the most important problems faced by the respondents, Garrett’s ranking techniques were used, which convert the order of problems into numerical scores. The study concluded that ‘lack of irrigation facilities’ was the main problem faced by the respondent with the highest Garret score of 8385 and an average score of 69.87%, followed by lack of storage facility (62.87%), lack of tools, equipment, machinery, etc (57.99% ), Inadequate farm credit (55.10%), pest and disease problem (50.30%), shortage of labour (49.42%), marketing problem (44.95%), high cost of investment (39.06%) and lack of adequate transportation facilities (30.32%).