Paddy plantation completed in country

KATHMANDU, AUGUST 2

Paddy plantation for this year has been completed across the country.

According to the Department of Agriculture (DoA), paddy has been planted over 96 per cent of arable land across the country this year.

Of the total 1.37 million hectares of arable land, paddy plantation has been completed on 1.31 million hectares of land this year.

According to DoA, paddy plantation has been completed over 245,391 hectares of land in Province 1 while plantation has been carried out on 362,030 hectares in Province 2. Similarly, in Province 3 and Gandaki Province paddy plantation has been carried out over 102,892 hectares and 104,780 hectares of land, respectively.

In Province 5, paddy has been planted over 297,014 hectares of land while plantation has been carried out on 37,820 hectares of land in Karnali Province. Meanwhile, paddy plantation has been completed over 161,369 hectares of land in Sudurpaschim Province this year.

Due to the favourable monsoon the department has stated that paddy plantation began and was completed on time this year. During the same period last year paddy plantation was completed over only 80.6 per cent of total arable land of the country.

Despite obstructions created by the lockdown, farmers had somehow managed to begin plantation on time.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has expected paddy production to grow by around five per cent this year. Last year, 5.55 million tonnes of paddy was produced which was the lowest production in the last three years.

Timely plantation, continuous rainfall and less damage due to floods and landslides have raised the government’s expectations for growth in rice production this year.

Paddy production alone makes over 20 per cent contribution to the total agricultural production of Nepal, while agriculture sector has around 27 per cent contribution to the national gross domestic product.