Chitwan, July 25: Ninety-two per cent of rice cultivation has taken place in Chitwan. Out of seven local levels here, ten per cent rice planting is to be done in Bharatpur Metropolis followed by five per cent at the Madi Municipality.    

According to Agricultural Knowledge Center, Bharatpur, Rapti, Khairhani Ratnanagar and Kalika Municipalities and the Ichhakamana Rural Municipality in the eastern Chitwan have already done with the rice plantation.    

Bharatpur Metropolis alone covers 50 per cent of the total land suitable for rice farming in the district. Paddy transplantation in the western part gets delayed because the preparation for the rice seedlings was delayed. The farmers had to carry out maize harvesting before that.   

The centre estimates that the entire rice cultivation would get over in the district by the end of this month. Early rainfall and availability of seeds led to the early cultivation of rice than in the past. In the past years, it would be completed by mid-September.    

Out of the arable land in the district, 72.7 per cent has irrigation facilities (throughout the year and seasonal). Last year, plantation of the main season and chaite (early) rice was conducted in 27,445 hectares of land in the district.

The productivity of chaite rice is 4.2 metric tons per hectare followed by 3.52 metric tons of the main season rice.