Sufficient rain, snowfall will push up winter harvest: Report

KATHMADNU, Feb 5: A new report prepared jointly by the government and UN agencies said production of winter crop is expected to go up, thanks to prolonged monsoon as well as timely winter rain and snowfall.



The Crop Situation Update issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), World Food Program (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization stated that production of major winter crops such as wheat, barley and vegetables is expected to rise due to timely germination and satisfactory growth of crop plants. [break]



However, the report also shows that cold wave that occurred in the Tarai region in the first-half of December damaged crops -- mainly vegetables. “However, rain or snowfall during the first week of January is expected to contribute to a better growth of winter crops for this season,” said the report.



Similarly, Food Market Situation report incorporated in the report shows that average price of coarse rice, wheat flour and red potato declined by 5.4 percent, 2.5 percent and 14.9 percent respectively, compared to December 2010. Likewise, the average price of black gram and broken lentil have also dropped by more than 10 percent.



“Such decline in food commodity prices is primarily attributed to the good harvest in 2010/11 as well as relatively smooth operation of transportation services across the country compared to last year,” the report added.



However, the price of soya bean oil increased by 13 percent compared to the same period last year.



Despite relative stability in cereal prices over the past one year, the average cost of production shows an upward trend.

According to the report, the average cost per quintal of paddy production has increased slightly to Rs 749 in 2010/11 from Rs 747 earlier year.



Likewise, the average cost of maize production on un-irrigated land has also gone up from Rs 582 per quintal in 2010/11 from Rs 565 in the Tarai. However, the cost shot up to Rs 985 per quintal for a quintal of maize in hill districts from Rs 601 recorded previous year.

“The increase in the average cost of production per quintal could be attributed to the rise of input prices such as fertilizers, labor wages and seeds,” the report added.

Related story

Lack of rain and snowfall affects apple production