Nepal Paddy Transplantation 2019: 80% Complete, Sudurpaschim Tops Provinces

Nepal has recorded successful completion of Paddy transplantation on 80.18 percent of its rice fields as of July 28, 2019.

According to data from Nepal Department of Agriculture (DoA), transplantation has been completed on 1.09 million hectares out of the country’s 1.42 million hectares of paddy cultivable land.

Sudurpaschim Province has registered the highest transplantation rate with a share of 94.17 percent cultivable land (155,033 hectares).

Two of the province districts -Kailali and Kanchanpur have reported 100 percent transplantation.

Likewise, Jumla has also recorded 100 percent paddy transplantation.

Province-wise Paddy Transplantation (Highest to Lowest):

Hilly Areas and Tarai Paddy Transplantation

According to the department, paddy transplantation as of July 28, 2019 fell by 1.12 percent points compared to July 28, 2018.

“Though monsoon was delayed by 10 days this year, transplantation took momentum right after the monsoon,” said Mahadev Prasad Poudel, Senior Agriculture Economist at DoA.

Nepal’s annual paddy production capacity is close to 5.61 million tons. According to officials, delayed monsoons has impacted paddy transplantation this year.

“Because of delayed monsoon, many farmers have been forced to transplant mature seedlings which do not grow as expected. Farmers in Tarai districts transplant seedlings a bit late compared to other parts of the country. So transplantation in the region continues till the third week of August,” said Poudel.

Usually, paddy transplantation in Nepal is completed by mid-August, 2019.