Factors affecting adoption of sustainable soil management practices among vegetable producers in Dhading, Nepal

A research was conducted using primary data for the year 2012 obtained from randomly selected 120 vegetable farmers using pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule. Nalang and Salang VDCs of Dhading district in Nepal were purposively selected for the study. Different variables were fed to probit regression model to identify and quantify the major factors affecting the adoption of sustainable soil management technology. Overall, the model predicted 85.76%of the sample correctly. The findings of the study revealed that number of economically active family members, household head education, livestock holding, membership in farmer's group and credit availability affects positively whereas, age of household head affects negatively in the adoption of sustainable soil management technology. A unit increased in economically active family members, years of education and livestock standard unit would increase the probability of adoption of technology by 21.3, 5.8 and 7.6% respectively. Likewise, if farmers were made member in the groups and credit made available, the probability of adoption of technology would increase by 46.2 and 46.3% respectively. But a unit increased in the age of household head would decrease the level of adoption by 1.4% indicating old aged farmers do not adopt innovative technologies in agriculture. Key words: Nepal, adoption, probit, sustainable soil management, vegetable.