Nepal’s paddy production increased by 4.37 percent to over 5.72 million tons this year

KATHMANDU, June 27: Nepal’s paddy production increased 4.37 percent to over 5.72 million tons in fiscal year 2023/24, due to an increase in use of improved seeds, easy availability of chemical fertilizers and timely and adequate rainfall in the main rice plantation season. The records with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) show that the country produced 5,724,234 tons of paddy in the current fiscal year. In FY 2022/23, the production of the staple food was 5,486,472 tons. Hari Bahadur KC, spokesperson for the MoALD, said that paddy production has been increasing in the past few years. According to him, the use of hybrid seeds has played a role in an increasing yield of the agricultural product despite a rapid increase in land plotting, urbanization and barren land. The report of Agriculture Census 2021 shows that Nepal produces paddy on 1,216,400 hectares of land. The cultivable land size decreased by around 250,000 hectares in the past one decade. The ...