Bhadrapur, Nov 7: The production of rice in Jhapa district may decrease this year as it has been planted on less land compared to the previous years.Rice has been planted in only 92 per cent of the total land for paddy cultivation, the District Agriculture Development Office (DADO), Jhapa claimed.Jhapa was once considered a food basket in the country as it used to produce rice in the highest quantity. Earlier rice was planted in around 88 thousand hectares of the total arable land in the district. This year, due to the unfavorable weather, it was cultivated on only 82 thousand hectares.
Some 3.57 million metric tonnes of rice was harvested last year in Jhapa, but there is a slim chance of such a remarkable quantity of rice production this year, informed Shalikram Bhattarai, the assistant technician at DADO.Bhattarai attributes the decrease in production to the adverse effects of the monsoon this year as the monsoon this year started too early, but the rainfall was too sporadic and sparingly.The productivity of the district in the recent years has stood at 4.2 metric tonnes per hectare.
Meanwhile, according to the District Agriculture Developemnt Office, Kaski the production of the same crop is expected to go up by five per cent this year in the district, thanks to adequate rainfall.Factors as timely availability of fertilizers, no occurrence of the natural disasters in the region during the monsoon, among others have played the second fiddle to the increase in the rice production, said Ramesh Koirala, the District Agriculture Officer.So far 81,336 metric tonnes of rice has been produced from its plantation in the total 43 VDCs and two municipalities in the district. This year, rice has been planted in the area spanning 26.50 hectares. As usual, two crops of rice are planted in the district, once in the monsoon and another in the summer month of Chait.Peasants in Pokhara are busy in harvesting rice these days, expecting a bumper production this year. Krishi Weekly
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