KATHMANDU, Aug 26: Import of rice more than doubled in the first month of the current fiscal year, despite the government's repeated commitment to make the country self-reliant in a number of agricultural products, including the staple food.
According to records of the Department of Customs, Nepal imported rice worth Rs 2.66 billion between mid-July and mid-August od this year, up from Rs 1.25 billion during the same period last year. The import of the staple food this year was mostly done from India. A very small quantity was imported from Vietnam. In the review period last year, Nepal imported rice from South Korea, Thailand and China, apart from India.
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In the last fiscal year, Nepal imported rice worth Rs 23.17 billion. Just in the five months since the government imposed the first lockdown on March 24, Nepal imported rice of Rs 11.06 billion. The country’s dependency on imported essentials has been increasing following the coronavirus pandemic.
According to agriculture experts, Nepal has seen decreased paddy harvest year-on-year due to reduction in rice fields. The country has lost an estimated 100,000 hectares of paddy land in the last one decade, while the average productivity also stands at mere 3.8 tons per hectare. Rapid and unplanned urbanization is encroaching paddy fields.
In addition, farmers are facing erratic production volume caused by a series of issues, ranging from a delayed monsoon, fertilizer shortage and fake seeds to an armyworm invasion. As per the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, paddy output totaled 5.55 million tons in 2019/20, which was 1.1 percent less than production of the previous year.
The Ministry has claimed that the rice plantation has been done in 98% of the total land area of the rice fields. However, the production is likely to go down this year by a notable amount as the farmers have not yet received chemical fertilizers for the top dressing of the paddy plants.
