Chitwan, Jan. 20: Experts have pointed out the need for changing the current seed of paddy to meet the growing demand for paddy in the Nepal.
They said this at a programme organised by the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, Implementation Unit, Chitwan on Tuesday.

Scientist of National Rice Research Programme Dr. Ram Baran Yadav pointed out that seed change was the need of the hour to increase paddy production.
He said that use of the state-of-the-art technology, production of hybrid seed and its use were essential to increase paddy production.

He claimed that it was not possible to increase the production in the old way in the situation where the cultivable land was being fragmented day by day.

As per the official statistics, a Nepali consumes 137.5 kg of rice annually. Based on that, Nepal needs 6.7 million tonnes of paddy. Paddy production in Nepal has been around 5.6 million tonnes.
It is estimated that paddy contributes 7 per cent to the GDP of the country and its contribution to agriculture is around 15 per cent.

However, only 10 to 12 per cent of the farmers are engaged in commercial farming.

More than 50 per cent of the people in Nepal produce for their own consumption and 38 to 40 per cent sell surplus paddy.
Due to floods, landslides and lack of fertilisesr, paddy production did not increase this year.

Chitwan falls within the 14 major districts of Nepal in terms of paddy production. It is estimated that around 100,000 tonnes of paddy is produced annually there.
Paddy production in the district has been declining every year due to the growing fragmentation of arable land.