KATHMANDU: Roughly 1.372 million hectares of the 1.4 million hectares of land eligible for agriculture have been used this year, with approximately 98 percent of paddy transplanting done throughout Nepal. It is estimated that rice output will rise as a result of the beneficial rainfall circumstances that caused the increase from roughly 90% in the previous fiscal year (FY 2023/24) to 98% in the current year.
Sudurpaschim Province has achieved full paddy transplantation, while Koshi Province has completed less than 95 percent. In contrast, Madhesh Province had the lowest transplantation rate last fiscal year at only 60 percent. The significant progress in paddy transplantation this year is expected to boost local rice production.
The reduction in rice and paddy imports has been notable, with FY 2023/24 seeing imports decrease to NPR 21.34 billion from NPR 35.90 billion in FY 2022/23. The Ministry anticipates further reductions in imports due to the projected six percent increase in rice production.
Mahanand Joshi, the Ministry’s information officer, indicated that the improved transplantation and expected rise in production should help reduce dependency on imports and improve domestic rice availability.
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