Preeti Yadav , Saroj Yadav , Bibas Chaulagai , Samikshya Poudel

Agriculture and Forestry University, Faculty of Agriculture, Rampur, Chitwan, 44209, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 6   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0030
Received: 22 Jul., 2025    Accepted: 27 Oct., 2025    Published: 10 Dec., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Yadav P., Yadav S., Chaulagai B., and Poudel S., 2025, Economic analysis of solo cropping and mixed cropping with maize in yield of potato in Rasuwa, Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 15(6): 299-311 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0030)

Potato, the second most produced crop in Nepal, is critical for rural livelihoods, yet farmers in the Rasuwa district lack an economic comparison between solo potato cropping and mixed potato-maize cropping to optimize their practices. This study's primary objective was to comprehensively assess and compare the yield and profitability of these two systems. Utilizing a structured household survey, data were collected from 90 farmers selected through simple random sampling in the Kalika and Gosaikunda municipalities, with analysis centered on the Benefit-Cost (B/C) ratio. The results conclusively demonstrate that mixed cropping is significantly more profitable, achieving a B/C ratio of 2.77 compared to 1.62 for solo cropping (p-value=0.001). Although mixed cropping had a higher total average cost (NRs/ha 228,557 vs. NRs/ha 193,123 with p value of 0.001), it yielded vastly greater average benefits (NRs/ha 379,915 vs. NRs/ha 100,523 (p-value=0.012)). Crucially, the mixed system's primary benefit was its effectiveness in reducing the risk of crop failure, and regression analysis identified chemical fertilizer and potato tuber costs as key positive determinants of cost. These findings strongly advocate for the adoption of mixed potato-maize cropping as a superior, more economical strategy to enhance both farm productivity and financial stability in the region.

Agricultural economics; Benefit-cost ratio; Economic profitability; Input cost analysis; Mixed cropping systems