Trend Analysis Of Area, Productive Area, Production And Productivity Of Major Citrus Species Cultivated In Kaski District, Nepal

Kaski is one of the potential districts for citrus production in Nepal. A study was carried out with the objective to assess and analyze the status and trend of area, productive area, production and productivity of citrus in Kaski district, Nepal. For the study, secondary data were collected from “Statistical Information on Nepalese Agriculture” published yearly by MoALD from 1999/00 to 2017/18. Microsoft Excel and XLSTAT were used for data analysis and visualization of data. Mann-Kendall test (M-K test), Sen’s slope method and Standard Normal Homogeneity (SNH) test were used for trend analysis. The results showed that area, productive area and production of overall citrus and mandarin has significantly increasing trend whereas lime, lemon and sweet orange are undermined. The significant change points for area, productive area, production and productivity of citrus were detected from 2007/08 to 2011/12. The result from Sen’s slope showed that the production of overall citrus, and mandarin increased at the rate of 219.67 mt, 236.25 mt and 1.329 mt per year whereas the production of lime and sweet orange decreased at the rate of 3.53 mt and 3.55 mt per year during the study period. The average annual productivity was 10.35 mt/ha for overall citrus, 10.55 mt/ha for mandarin orange, 8.20 mt/ha for sweet orange, 6.58 mt/ha for lime, and 5.70 mt/ha for lemon during the study period from 1999/00 to 2017/18. The findings of this study will aid effective policy formulation for strengthening land use, citrus rejuvenation, marketing activities and program implementation in Kaski.