The celebration this year will also be no different than the past years. [break]
Though Nepal used to be sufficient in food a couple of decades ago, the nation is fast sliding into a food deficit situation. Paddy production has almost tripled in the last four decades.
However, the nation has been seeing widening shortage of paddy in every passing year as the rise in population has been disproportional to the total production volume.
The threat of food crisis is mounting in the country which has been seeing agricultural land making way to human settlements in a large scale, thanks to rapid growth in population.
The country is facing a food deficit of 316,465 tons in 2009/10, which is double the deficit figure of 132,914 tons recorded last year, due to 11 percent decline in paddy production.
Delayed or low plantation in major producing districts due to long spell of drought is one of the major factors behind decline in paddy production. Though the area of irrigated land is increasing every year, a large swathe of agricultural land across the country still lacks irrigation facility. This means out agriculture is still dependent on rainfall.
Lack of irrigation facility, increasing conversion of paddy fields into human settlements, insufficient budget for paddy research, lack of incentives to the farmers amid minimum support price on agriculture inputs and rising demands are among the key factors behind rising food deficit in the country.
This year also, the government has failed to supply sufficient amount of subsidized fertilizers during peak plantation season, leaving farmers across the country furious.
“Increasing shortage of water for irrigation is a growing threat for countries across the world,” said Bhola Man Singh Basnet, a paddy expert.
Officials have claimed that the impending food deficit would directly hit around 1.6 million people across the country.
Paddy production, which contributes around 45 percent to the total cereal crop basket, went down by 500,000 tons to 4.02 million tons this year. Paddy production area has also shrunk by 5 percent over the year. Paddy production last year was recorded at 4.52 million tons, the highest figure in the last six decades.
Nepal has become a rice importing country despite impressive rise in production paddy production. It used to export 250,000 to 300,000 tons of rice annually until 1980s because the governments then had put agriculture in their priority list.
“Though we have been seeing widening food deficit and rising dependency in imports to supplement the domestic demand, the government lacks special programs to boost production of paddy, which accounts for more than 20 percent of total Agriculture Gross Domestic Product,” Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, told myrepublica.com.
Agriculture sector contributes more than 30 percent to total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Paddy, which covers around 50 percent of total cereal crop production, supplies around 40 percent of total calorie requirement for the people.
Increasing paddy production, however, is not an easy nut to crack, given the limited area for paddy plantation. The government, however, can increase the productivity from existing 2.9 tons per hectare, which is far lower than the productivity recorded in other countries, by providing easy access to agriculture inputs at subsidized rates.
“The government should also formulate the Paddy Policy to encourage farmers to focus on paddy plantation by providing incentives as a part of finding a long-term solution of ever deepening problem of food deficit in the country,” Dahal said.
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