Notice (8): Trying to access array offset on value of type null [APP/View/Articles/view.ctp, line 115]
Notice (8): Trying to access array offset on value of type null [APP/View/Articles/view.ctp, line 115]
Notice (8): Trying to access array offset on value of type null [APP/View/Articles/view.ctp, line 116]

Nepal Yet to Meet the Demand of Paddy Production

  1 min 58 sec to read
Nepal Yet to Meet the Demand of Paddy Production
Notice (8): Undefined index: caption [APP/View/Articles/view.ctp, line 241]

June 29: The total annual production of paddy in Nepal amounts to Rs 150 billion. Therefore, the fluctuation in paddy production directly affects the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture Development, Shankar Sapkota, made such remarks during a function organized by Nepal Agriculture Journalists Association in the capital on Wednesday to mark the 14th National Paddy Day.

Of late, the agriculture sector has been contributing 29.4 percent of the total GDP of the country. According to the ministry, paddy constitutes 20 percent of the total agricultural products of the country.

Deputy Spokesperson Sapkota said that 5.4 million metric tons of paddy is estimated to be produced in the coming fiscal year.

Paddy expert Krishna Devkota said that there has been a decrease in paddy production due to lack of proper irrigation and manure management among various other things.

Out of the total 3 million hectares of arable land in Nepal, paddy production was done on 1.362 million hectares in the fiscal year 2015/2016, says Tilak Chaulagain, a project officer under the Prime Minister’s Modernization Project.  

During that period, 4.219 million metric tons of paddy was produced. According to Chaulagain, the amount of paddy produced in the country was less than the total demand of the country by 2 million metric tons. In the fiscal year 2015/16, the production of paddy was 3.15 metric tons per hectare. The country can be self reliant on paddy if the production is increased to 4.5 metric ton per hectare, says Chaulagain.

The project has a target of making the country self reliant on major crops within the next three years. In order to meet the target, the project has already created a super zone in Jhapa in the current fiscal year. Likewise, other five zones have also been set up especially for paddy in Kanchanpur, Kapilbastu, Pyuthan, Bardiya and Sarlahi. The project has also established 24 blocks in various districts for  paddy production. He further informed that the project will create another paddy zone in Siraha in the coming fiscal year 2017/2018 with a view to increase production.

Nepal used to export paddy in the past but in the recent years Nepal has turned into importer. Currently, Nepal spends more than Rs 25 billion to import paddy and rice every year.

Deprecated (16384): Using key `action` is deprecated, use `url` directly instead. [CORE/Cake/View/Helper/FormHelper.php, line 383]
No comments yet. Be the first one to comment.