Traditionally, Ashad 15, celebrated by relishing curd and beaten rice, marks the beginning of farming season but has not changed into modern festival to improve the agricultural production.
By Indra Adhikari
Even as agriculture sector contributes well over 40 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Nepal is yet to cash on its potential of agricultural productivity due to lack of timely improvement in farming methods and introduction of new technology.
Giving due emphasis on importance of agriculture in the national economy, Ashad 15 is observed as the ‘national paddy day’ since last three years.
Asar 15: Women planting paddy in a field at Hari Siddhi of Lalitpur. Farmers usually plant paddy beginning Asar 15 (June 29) every year, which marks the beginning of the monsoon in the country. It is being observed this year as the 2nd National Rice Day. (File Photo)
Asar 15: Women planting paddy in a field at Hari Siddhi of Lalitpur…
Paddy production contributes 20 percent in the GDP but due to drought and other constraints the production of paddy has dropped by an average of 2 percent in the last few years. “This should be taken seriously along with efforts to find alternatives to increase the production to meet the growing population of the country,” says Dr Bhola Man Singh Basnet, spokesperson of the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC).
At present, agricultural production that includes paddy, maize, millet, wheat and barley stands at 566,000 metric tones in Terai region, 65,000 metric tones in the mountainous region and 288,000 metric tones in hilly region. While the population has doubled in the last 30 years, agricultural production has not been quite encouraging in recent years.
Basnet expressed concern over the growing encroachment into the agricultural land, which has decreased by more than five percent in the last decade. “Some of Nepal’s 85 percent agricultural land is fast turning into suburban areas with increase in human settlements. This may widen the range of growth in agriculture productivity and population.”
He, however, claims that NARC has been working for improvement in productivity through improvement of seeds and by introducing new production technologies. This year, the council brought out five species of paddy namely Pokhreli Jetho Budho, Loktantra, Barkhe 3004, Mithila and Ram. It is also trying to build technologies to preserve water in order to reduce the problem of drought in agricultural land. This includes use of organic fertilizers, sowing of paddy, wheat etc without ploughing land.
It has been essential that Nepal needs to introduce new farming techniques and technologies so as to improve the agriculture productivity to meet the demands of increasing population. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its Asia Pacific Human Development Report 2006 has also highlighted for the improvement in agricultural production.