Purpose: Despite the availability of new buyers and the possibility to receive higher prices, still large numbers of smallholder farmers do not participate in the modern supply chains. This study aims to understand the factors that affect smallholder farmers' participation in a newly emerging modern supply chain context.Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 6 focus groups of farmers (67 farmers in total) and 14 interviews with market actors and key informants such as government officials and donor organisations.Findings: Influential factors of farmers' participation in the modern chain include buyer attributes and transaction conditions. High prices and prompt payment are the key motivators, with the main inhibitors being personal relationships with buyers and strict market requirements related to quality and quantity supplied.Practical implications: In order to encourage smallholder farmer participation in modern chains, an expansion of the marketing of high-quality vegetables by implementing quality control mechanisms and the encouragement to adopt safe marketing practices is needed. These results are particularly relevant for practitioners and policymakers.Originality/value: Most research to date concentrates on farmers' socioeconomic characteristics and are based in countries with advanced modern chains, and rarely focus on farmer participation in countries where modern chains are relatively new. This study addresses this gap by analysing farmer preferences to engage in the context of a country experiencing the emergence of trade through modern vegetable supply chain system.

Technologies-based production practices are critical for agricultural growth and sustainable development in low-income countries like Nepal. In the last few years, tunnel house has been increasingly promoted as tools to enhance smallholder farmers’ livelihood and tackle climate adversaries. However, little is known about what factor determines its adoption and whether it helps smallholders adapt to climate change and experience better livelihood. We address these gaps using the cross-sectional survey data collected from 62 adopters and 92 non-adopters in three municipalities of Bagmati Province. We employed descriptive analysis and probit model and found out that age, farm size, and ethnicity strongly influence the technology adoption amongst smallholder farmers. Additionally, treatment model and ordinary least square (OLS) regression were utilized to examine tunnel technology’s effect. Our study shows that tunnel significantly increases production by 32 tons/year/hectare and protects crops from climate change effects such as heavy rainfall and temperature change. Likewise, tunnel technology increases the net crop income by $1700/year/hectare. However, the economic benefit is not substantial compared to technology’s adoption cost as adopters incur enormous costs of $12,000/year/hectare on equipment, labor and resources. These results suggest policymakers should concentrate on reducing the technology’s cost, which could be achieved through subsidies, financial support, or price control mechanisms. Ensuring technology’s affordability can contribute to smallholder farmers’ sustainable livelihood in Nepal and countries with similar contexts.

Climate change has been adversely affecting glaciers causing them to advance and recession worldwide. Existing studies have primarily attributed temperature as the leading factor causing glacier recession. However, detailed studies that investigate effect of other factors like presence of debris cover, slope, and contact with water bodies are still scarce. This research, thus investigated the role of supraglacial lakes in recession of debris-covered glaciers (DCG). Such glaciers were studied since these lakes are found in debris-covered glaciers only. For this purpose the interannual variation in area of supraglacial lakes of Dudh Koshi basin was computed to test the hypothesis that these lakes play a significant role in glacier recession.Supraglacial lakes were delineated using Google Earth Pro at five year intervals to assess interannual variation in lake area. Slope, elevation and change in supraglacial lake area were the predictors influencing average decadal change in area of glaciers. Two models prepared using multiple linear regression in Excel were compared. The first model used elevation and slope as predictors while the second model used change in supraglacial lake area as the additional predictor. The second model had a higher coefficient of determination (R square) and Adjusted R-square values of 99 % and 96 % compared to the first model. Further test statistics from Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results were compared to test the hypothesis. Moreover the Root mean square error (RMSE) of second model was also less than the first one. Hence both the regression statistics and RMSE confirmed that change in area of supraglacial lakes was an important factor that influences overall recession of debris-covered glaciers.Nevertheless, use of high spatial and temporal resolution imageries along-with increase in number of glaciers sampled should be incorporated in future studies to ensure robust outcomes. Thus this research can bolster the overall understanding between glacier and glacial lake dynamics which will improve the resilience of downstream inhabitants from climate induced hazards, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

ISHS IX International Strawberry Symposium Understanding consumer preferences for new market entry: a study of strawberry consumption in Jakarta