Kathmandu. About 72 percent of the sowing has been completed across the country this year. Last year, planting was 12 percent less than the same period.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, planting has been completed on about one million hectares of land across the country. Information Officer at the Ministry, Mahananda Joshi, said that around 1.4 million hectares of land will be planted in the country.

Information Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Joshi, said that 97 percent sowing has been done in sudurpaschim state, while 88 percent planting has been completed in Karnali and Lumbini provinces. According to him, 98 per cent sowing is expected to take place by the last week of July if adverse weather conditions do not affect them.

According to Information Officer Joshi, 97 per cent sowing has been completed in the far-western state and 171,000 hectares of land has been planted. In terms of percentage, the highest number of plantings have been completed here. According to him, 87 per cent sowing has been completed in Bagmati Province and 105,000 hectares of land has been planted.

Around 84 per cent paddy was sown in the same period last year. According to the data collected by the ministry till Sunday, sowing is going on in some parts of the country.

According to Joshi, information officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, tarai region is considered suitable in terms of rice production and area. “The region contributes 70 per cent of the total production of rice by increasing its productivity. 30 percent of the production is done in the hilly areas,” he said.

A total of 5,724,234 metric tonnes of paddy was produced in the fiscal year 2080/81 BS. Due to adverse weather conditions, divine disasters, excessive rainfall and unseasonal rains, late planting is taking place in some areas. Production is expected to increase due to the development of knowledge, skills, technology and advanced varieties of seeds developed in the recent past.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, if rice production fluctuates by about 10 percent, the country’s GROSS domestic product will fluctuate by one percent. Information Officer at the Ministry, Joshi, said that about 3.5 million metric tonnes of edible rice will be produced from the estimated 6 million metric tonnes of rice produced in the country this year.