Paddy seedlings in most of the hill districts are withering due to scorching son for a couple of weeks making farmers worried about the future of the season´s paddy production. [break]
An emergency meeting of officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) held on Sunday, decided to arrange for additional seed stock to avert acute shortage of seedlings in paddy plantation time.
“The government has hardly 10 tons of seed and private seed producer companies have estimated 75 to 80 tons of seed in their stocks. We are immediately mobilizing our offices across the country to arrange additional sources of seeds to avert crisis of seedlings in paddy plantation time,†Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson for the ministry, told Republica. A total 185,000 tons of rice seed are needed across the country every year.
Dahal said the ministry also decided to request the Ministry of Local Development to extend support for the farmers to protect paddy seedlings through District Development Committees and Village Development Committees.
“We will immediately direct regional directorates under our ministry to send the status of paddy seedling from across the country every day,†Dahal added. The ministry also decided to provide relief programs during next winter to the farmers who suffered huge crop loss during last winter due to drought.
In a bid to lessen the impact of ongoing drought in paddy seedlings, the ministry has also decided to urge farmers to take different measures including harvesting rainwater, applying drip irrigation, among other to irrigate the seedling plots. “We are requesting farmers to protect seedling in the field and keep seed stocks with them to head off the acute crisis of seedlings in the case of prolonged drought,†said Dahal.
The long drought has already taken its toll in wheat and barley production, pushing their production down by over 14 and 17 percent, respectively, across the country. Officials at the MoAC have also estimated decline in maize production due to the same reason.
Related story
The whole of New South Wales is in drought. This is what it loo...
