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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the formal workplace learning situation in Nepal and argue that workplace learning is not in priority in Nepali Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) despite a regular policy emphasis.

Data were gathered using both desk-based review of pre-diploma and diploma-level curricula and semi-structured interviews with eight employers and six technical school principals. Coded themes were interpreted in the meaning-making process.

Workplace skills learning in Nepal has remained a neglected agenda. Despite some successful implementation practices and policy recognition, it is stagnated. Employers expect skills in graduates relevant to their demands. However, unfortunately, there needs to be more trust for a culture of shared responsibilities among employers and TVET providers for arranging the provisions so that the learners can acquire the skills that the employers need. There is a blaming game between them, which has ultimately resulted in the poor arrangement of workplace learning.

TVET providers’ and employers’ engaged participation in recognizing and developing workplace learning for making the learning as per the needs of the world of work could benefit them and also support students to upgrade and acquire employability skills.

This paper is based on empirical data and contributes new knowledge in academia which is still rare in the context of Nepal.

In Nepal, not much is known about the adoption of improved vegetable varieties. Also, there are reasons to expect that the determinants of adoption may vary between subsistence and commercial farmers, given their different production/market orientations. Therefore, the paper aims to examine the adoption intentions of commercial and subsistence vegetable farmers.

A logistic regression model was used to empirically test the determinants of the intention to adopt and recommend improved vegetable varieties. The paper also uses propensity score matching (PSM) to assess the causal effects of production/market orientation on household dietary patterns. Cross-sectional data of 600 Nepalese vegetable farmers are analyzed.

Compared to subsistence farmers, commercial vegetable farmers obtain seeds mainly from formal sources and use hybrid seeds. The most consistent covariates of vegetable adoption intentions were risk preferences and experience growing vegetables. Overall, adoption intentions were higher among commercial farmers, and commercial vegetable households tend to consume more vegetables.

Considering that vegetable farming provides an important supplementary food production system for the household, adopting improved vegetable varieties is pivotal to increasing productivity and improving household level dietary diversity in developing countries. Actions to promote wider adoption of vegetable varieties and encourage healthier dietary patterns could be successful if these efforts also focus on subsistence farmers. The findings in this paper will be useful to policymakers to better prioritize dissemination strategies.

The paper highlights the differences in characteristics and adoption intention towards new vegetable varieties between subsistence and commercial farmers. The impact of commercial production on healthier household dietary patterns is accentuated.