KATHMANDU, July 19: People in hilly and high-hill districts, who suffered a huge loss in winter crops, are set to receive a severe blow in the next harvest season which is expected to witness a fall in paddy production by 450,000 tons due to prolonged drought, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC).
"Because of poor rainfall during the plantation season, paddy has been planted in only 60 percent of the fields in mid-hills and only in 40 percent in upper hilly districts," Dr Hari Dahal, MoAC spokesperson, told myrepublica.com. This will reduce rice production by over 405,000 tons in the mid-hills and 44,000 tons in the high-hill districts.
Rice is planted in over 1.55 million hectares of land across the country, of which 1.1 million hectares is in the Tarai, 385,000ha in mid-hill and 64,000ha in high-hill districts. However, irrigation facility is available in less than 350,000ha of land. Rice production in the Tarai makes up 74 percent of total national production, while mid-hills constitute 24 percent and high-hills three percent.
Production of paddy had touched a record high 4.52 million tons in 2008/09, up by 5.2 percent as compared to a year earlier. Still the people in the hilly districts had suffered from severe food scarcity.
This time around, paddy has not been planted in 175,000ha of land in hill and high-hill districts. That means about 38 percent of the total cultivable land in hill and high hill districts has been left barren this season.
Worse, plantation of paddy has been completed only in 25 percent of land in the Tarai. However, as the plantation season in the Tarai lasts till mid-August, the ministry has not projected the possible production loss in the Tarai. "What is for sure though is paddy production in the Tarai will also go down if the drought continued," Dahal said.
The decline in rice production will seriously hit economic growth in 2009/10 as rice contributes 16 percent in total agricultural gross domestic production (GDP) and production of this season makes about two-third of total rice production throughout the year.
Still worse, it will have strong negative bearing on the lives of people in the far-flung and inaccessible districts.
For instance, MoAC´s latest report notes that Dailekh, one of the districts facing severe food shortage, has witnessed 75 percent drop in paddy plantation. Kalikot, another food-deficit district, has paddy planted in a mere 40 percent of its total land under paddy.
Okhaldhunga in the eastern hill has paddy planted in 30 percent of land, whereas plantation in Kavre, Ramechhap and Sindhupalchowk of central region stands at a mere 40 percent of the total riceland. Paddy plantation in Surkhet of mid-western region too has been completed in only 40 percent of riceland.
Given the situation, the ministry has rung a warning bell of a looming food crisis in those districts. Unfortunately, the government which has failed to control soaring food prices and address food shortage is still unsure about how to fight the imminent crisis.
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