Kathmanmdu— Paddy transplantation has been completed on around 22 percent of the 1.55 million hectares of paddy fields across the country, According to Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperative.
Due to the early monsoon this year, according to officials, transplantation of paddy has taken a momentum this year in comparison to previous years. In the last year, the figure was 20 percent.
More than a dozen districts, however, have witnessed more than 50 percent transplantation till Tuesday. Those districts are: Kaski, Dolpa, Humla, Jajarkot, Salyan, Rolpa, Rukum, Pyuthan, Bajhang, Doti, Solukhumbu, Bhojpur, Kathmandu and Kanchanpur.
According to statistics of the Agriculture Ministry, the paddy plantation has been completed in 58,158 hectares of land in high mountainous 14 districts, 399,675 hectares in mid-hilly 39 districts and 194,636 in 20 districts of Tarai.
About 21% (3.2 million hectares) of the total land area of Nepal is used for cultivation and the principal crops are rice (45%), maize (20%), wheat (18%),millet (5%) and potatoes (3%), followed by sugarcane, jute, cotton, tea, barley, legumes, vegetables and fruits.
Rice is the principle crop of Nepal because it occupies nearly 50% of the total cultivated land. It contributes about 60% to total cereal production and 21% in Agriculture GDP (MoAD 2014). About 45% food consumption is made of this crop.
Rice occupies nearly 50% of the total cultivated land of the country and accounts for about 60% of total cereal production, 21% of agricultural GDP and 45% of food consumption. Around 70 percent of the rice fields in the country falls in tarai region. In 2017, Nepal imported paddy and rice worth Rs 25.7 billion despite growing 5.2 million tons of paddy.
According to statistics, about 4,100,000 metric tonnes of rice is needed in the country annually. Lack of workers, irrigation shortage and unavailability of pesticides and fertilizers has badly affected the rice production in the country.
