Gulmi. The farmers of the district have been busy in sowing with the onset of rain. Although there was no sowing in taris due to lack of water sources in some places, sowing was done on time in most places of the district this year.

According to the District-based Agriculture Knowledge Centre, 87 percent of the area in the district has been sown till the second week of July. Centre’s Gulmi Information Officer Shiva Prasad Banjade said that out of 7,988 hectares in the district, 6,950 hectares have been sown.

Stating that the percentage of planting has increased this time as compared to last year, he said that 76 percent of the area was sown till this period last year. He said that due to timely rain, more planting has been done in a short period of time.

Stating that although the percentage of sowing has increased, the cultivable area is decreasing, Banjade said that 90 percent of the area under paddy production in the district is expected to be sown this year.

According to the Centre, local varieties of paddy including Hansraj, Jhopri, Thapachini, Pakhe, Marsi, Rato Marsi, Jadan, Jhinuwa and advanced varieties of paddy are being cultivated here.

Naresh Dhital, chief of agriculture knowledge centre, said lack of human resources, increasing migration, shortage of cattle, lack of tractors to plough on time, erosion of rivulets and high wages are the main reasons for the decrease in the area under paddy planting. According to him, out of the total area under paddy production in the district, 1,286 metric tonnes of chaite paddy was produced last year and 23,140 metric tonnes of paddy annually.

Chief Dhital informed that Badigand, Chaurasi Phanta, Chaldi, Nisti, Panaha, Sudi, Khaireni, Khajrang Shantipur, Majuwa and other areas of the district are pocket areas for paddy production. Rice is sown in about 500 hectares of land in Gulmi. Here, paddy is the second major food crop after maize.