The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has forecast a positive paddy production for Nepal in 2013, largely due to timely and abundant seasonal rainfall. The FAO anticipates the 2013 paddy production in Nepal to recover by 2 percent, to 4.6 million tonnes, and is expected to compensate for the losses incurred last year. After a bumper paddy harvest of 5.07 million tonnes in 2011, erratic rainfall and a shortage of fertilisers caused the output to drop by 11.3 percent, to 4.5 million tonnes in 2012. According to the FAO, transplanting activities for the main season crops, due for harvest between August and September, were reported to be proceeding smoothly. Due to favorable production conditions for the remainder of the season, and based on reports of an improved input supply situation, the FAO projected paddy output to recover this year. However, rice imported to Nepal this year is foreseen to end higher, with a predicted 400, 000 tonnes to be brought into the country. The FAO has increased the forecast for global rice trade in 2013 to around 37.5 million tonnes, up from about 200,000 tonnes. The upward revision is mainly based on the expectation of larger imports by China and Nepal this year. Nepal’s rice import bill jumped to an alarming Rs 13.67 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal year, as the country’s output failed to meet the growing rice demand. The Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) statistic show that the country imported 493,291 tonnes of rice last fiscal year, up from 398,482 tonnes in the previous year. Of the total import, semi and wholly milled rice amounted to Rs 8.66 billion, while imported rice in the husk stood at Rs 4.66 billion. Massive imports follow a projected rice deficit this year. The Ministry of Agriculture Development had estimated that Nepal will face a shortage of 900,000 tonnes of rice this year, despite a likely surplus in total food grain reserves. However, with improved an agriculture scenario, due to the increased coverage of paddy transplantation, improved seeds and sufficient distribution of chemical fertiliser, the ministry has also expected a good paddy harvest this year. With the exception of five Tarai districts that witnessed a late drought this season, the overall performance of paddy cultivation has been encouraging so far, the ministry said. Paddy transplantation has been successful on 97 percent of the total paddy fields this year.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 06:43:03 +0000
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