Kathmandu, June 28

The government has projected a growth of 3.25 per cent in the production of paddy in the next fiscal year.

Officials of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) today informed that a target has been set to produce almost 5.4 million metric tonnes of paddy in 2017-18 against the total 5.23 million tonnes of paddy produced in the ongoing fiscal year.

“The plantation area of paddy in the country is increasing slowly and the market is receiving improved seeds. Along with expectation of favourable monsoon next year, we are certain to meet the production target,” Shankar Sapkota, deputy spokesperson for MoAD, said.

Owing to favourable monsoon, paddy production surged to an all-time high of 5.23 million tonnes in the current fiscal.

Comparative data

Year 

Production (in metric tonnes)

2013-14

5.04 million 

2014-15

4.8 million 

2015-16

4.3 million 

2016-17

5.23 million 

2017-18

5.4 million (Projected)

Source: MoAD

As per Sapkota, MoAD has been conducting various programmes to make the country self-reliant on rice within the next three years. Among others, he informed that the government has been promoting production of fine aromatic variant of rice in 20 districts of Tarai from last fiscal year. “MoAD is also running a campaign to encourage mass production of paddy in 35 districts across the country,” he said.

According to statistics of Trade and Promotion Centre (TEPC), Nepal imported almost 360,000 metric tonnes of rice in the first 10 months of the current fiscal. MoAD officials said that a large bulk of imported rice constituted of fine aromatic variant.

Similarly, the government also launched Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project this year with an aim to mechanise agriculture sector and promote commercial production of agriculture products. Under this project, the government has classified agriculture production sector into pockets, blocks, zones and super zones. The government has declared 24 paddy blocks, five paddy zones and one paddy super zone in the country and has been launching different commercialisation schemes in these areas. Under the same project, the government has already declared Jhapa as the super zone for paddy production in Nepal.

Tilak Chaulagain, senior planning officer of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, said that commercialisation in paddy farming and boosting paddy production are the major targets of the project.

As per MoAD statistics, paddy farming is done on 1.5 million hectares of land across 73 districts in country. Similarly, paddy farming is done on 50.2 per cent of the total agricultural land in the country and 69.1 per cent of paddy farming in country is done in Tarai districts.

National Paddy Day being observed today

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) is observing the 14th National Paddy Day on Thursday this year with various programmes and campaigns across the country to enhance paddy farming and its production.

hankar Sapkota, deputy spokesperson for MoAD, said that the Paddy Day this year will basically encourage farmers to harvest paddy twice a year. “Harvesting paddy twice a year will increase its production.

If this trend of harvesting paddy twice is promoted, it will prove to be a boon not only to the country’s agriculture industry but also to the entire economy of Nepal,” Sapkota said.