Author:
Sudip Neupane, Gaurab Neupane and Pradeep Khanal

Doi: 10.26480/faer.02.2024.92.98

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Proper drying of freshly harvested cardamom is an important post-harvest management operation for reducing post-harvest loss and maintaining the quality of the capsule, thereby enhancing income at the farm level. The study aimed at determining factors affecting farmers’ choices of capsule drying methods. The multinomial logistic regression was used to assess determinants of farmers’ choices of drying methods, where the impact of farming experience and access to credit were positive and significant for the choice of double drum dryer over traditional kiln at a 5% level of significance (p<0.05). Membership in cooperatives or farmers’ groups had a positive and significant impact on the farmers’ choice of electric dryers over traditional kilns at a 5% level of significance (p<0.05). Years of schooling of the household head, training related to cardamom drying and storage, annual household income from cardamom, and farm size had positive and significant impacts on farmers’ preference for improved dryers over traditional kilns. These findings suggested that the government and private sectors should invest in the provision of education through training and education campaigns to raise awareness among farmers at the farm level about using improved drying methods.