NRB study shows area under crops declines in Koshi province

Kathmandu, Jan 13: The area under agricultural crops has decreased in Koshi province with the growing migration and the trend of constructing houses and residential structures on agricultural land.    

The 'Provincial Economic Activities Study Report for Fiscal Year 2023/24' published by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that the area covered by all the agricultural crops has declined by 1.55 per cent in the Fiscal Year 2023/24 as compared to the Fiscal Year 2022/23.    

The Central Statistics Office estimates Koshi province's contribution to the National GDP to be at 15.84 per cent in FY 2023/24. The province's share in the GDP was 15.88 per cent last FY.    
Contribution of agricultural, industrial and service sector to the GDP in the province is estimated to be 32.80 per cent, 16.32 per cent and 50.88 per cent respectively.    

The area under the overall agricultural crops has decreased as the area covered by rice, maize, millet, potato, soyabean, orange, turmeric among the crops has declined, the Report stated.    
Out of the total area covered by agricultural produce in Koshi Province, 87.92 per cent of the area is covered by food and cash crops, 5.11 per cent by vegetable crops and 6.97 per cent by other crops.   

 
Rice, maize, wheat, and millet crops account for 71.64 per cent of the total area covered by agricultural produce.    

Overall agricultural crop production in the province has increased by 1.13 per cent in the fiscal year 2023/24. The overall production of agricultural has witnessed in increment as the production of paddy, in particular, has increased by 7.45 per cent and millet by 0.86 per cent under the food crop.    

In comparison to the FY 2022/23, the production of vegetables has climbed by 1.98 per cent, tea by 0.01 per cent, coffee by 1.23 per cent and honey by 0.28 per cent whereas the production of fruits has dropped by 0.94 per cent and of spices by 8.03 per cent.  (RSS)