Paddy production goes down in Jhapa

By Bishnu Prasad Pokharel, Damak,  Jan.21: The arable land in Jhapa, which is considered to be a grain store, is being shrunk every year,  leading to a decrease in rice output. 

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Center, Jhapa, paddy was cultivated in 87,500 hectares four years ago and now after three years, the paddy plantation is limited to 72,000 hectares of land.

According to the head of the Agriculture Knowledge Center, Jhapa, Sagar Bista, 423, 000 metric tons of paddy was produced in Jhapa only 4 years ago which now has decreased to 382,000 metric tons of paddy this year. 

He said that the production may have decreased because of the increasing trend of converting the fertile land into settlement while the non-agricultural areas are being intensively used for production activity. 

He said, "Prolonged drought, lack of adequate irrigation facilities, increasing incidence of various diseases in paddy, can be traced as reasons behind the decrease in paddy production. Climate issues also have impacted paddy production, sometimes there is too much rain and sometimes there is no rain. On top of that,  there was an outbreak of various diseases in paddy in some places which can have contributed to a decrease in paddy production." 

Chairperson of the Kamal Rural Municipality of Jhapa district Hukum Singh Rai, organic fertilizers are being produced and distributed to farmers as per their needs with an aim to increase the production of agricultural products including paddy. 

He said that we are planning to prevent the decrease in production by an effective implementation of land use policy.