July 7: The National Food Bank Limited, which was set up with the plan of industrializing the agriculture sector of Nepal, has decided to opt for the rice-duck farming system while planting paddy. The system, which has been used and tested in various parts of Japan, is now being tested in the country. A similar test had been conducted prior to this, but, it wasn’t for commercial farming.

Rice-duck farming is about raising ducks and farming paddy together on the same land. The company stated that paddy is being planted according to this system.

Chairman of the bank Shankar Nath Upreti informed that the local basmati rice has been planted under this system in about 5 bighas of land in Jhapa and Bardiya at present. In addition, about 1,000 ducklings have been reared in the paddy fields.

Since the paddy and the ducklings grow together in the same place, manual weeding is not required as the duck’s claw will dig the ground and they eat the weeds as well. He said that chemical fertiliser is not needed as organic manure can be obtained from the feces of duck.

The ducks are separated from the paddy field at the time of harvesting. Stating that the cultivation with this system is done in a small area as a test, Upreti said that they will expand the use of this system if the test is successful.

The bank aims to cultivate paddy in about 1,000 bighas of land this year. The company has planted paddy in 55 bighas of land in Jhapa, 60 bighas in Bardiya and 518 bighas in collaboration with local farmers elsewhere. Local basmati or Jetho Budho rice has been planted in 35 ropanis of land and 313 ropanis of land in Hemja Pokhara in two phases.

Along with paddy, the bank is also planting millet in the Himalayan districts. The work of planting millet in about 500 ropanis of land in districts including Manang, Mustang, Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa nad Nuwakot has been completed.