Jumla farmers busy harvesting Marsi rice

By Netra Shahi,Jumla, Oct. 19: After celebrating the Dashain festival, farmers in Jumla are now busy harvesting beans and paddy. 

They are harvesting Marsi rice, which is marketed as branded rice in the Nepali market. It is said that Marsi rice is the most nutritious and delicious food.

Farmers have started harvesting paddy in the area of the Tila and Hima rivers where the temperature is high. 

Farmers in Chinasim, Depalgaon, Airport area, Sridhuska and Ghartali in Khalanga, along with Sinja region have also started harvesting marsi paddy. 

Similarly, farmers in wards 1, 2, 3, 9 and 10 of Chandannath Municipality are also harvesting paddy.

Bir Bahadur Singh, a farmer of Sapulli village of Tila Rural Municipality -4, said that paddy harvesting had started in various places of the district. 

According to him, this time, farmers started harvesting paddy immediately after the end of the Dashain festival. 

Ranjana Bhandari, a farmer of Gutichaur Rural Municipality-5, Depalgaon, said that paddy harvesting had also started in Depalgaon and Jharjwala area. 

Information Officer of District Agricultural Development Office, Jumla, Sher Bahadur Bhandari said that farmers had started harvesting paddy in most places of the district. 

At technical team has been deployed at local levels to take samples of the state of Marsi paddy and its production. 

According to the District Agricultural Development Office, around 3,300 tonnes of Jumli Marsi rice was produced in the fiscal year 2023/24. 

Bhandari said that of 3,300 tonnes of Marsi paddy produced last fiscal year, around 200 tonnes was supplied outside the district. According to him, it is estimated that rice production will increase this year. 

Even though rice has been destroyed by disease in some places, in most places, the yield is better than in past years. He said that it is estimated that rice production will increase by 5 to 10 per cent this year.