सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Far West. The Super Zone of Wheat and the Chaite Rice Zone Program in Kailali have increased production. The Super Zone and Zone Programs run under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project have increased the production of wheat and Chaite Rice.
Farmer Deepak Chaudhary of Kailari Rural Municipality-5 is happy to see the wheat crop growing in the fields. Farmers here, including Deepak, are cultivating wheat through the ‘Super Zone’ program. ‘After being included in the Super Zone program, wheat productivity has increased more than before. I am cultivating wheat on lease of about 15 bighas of land,’ said Chaudhary. ‘Earlier, I was cultivating 12-13 quintals of wheat per bigha, but after being included in the Super Zone program, I have started cultivating up to 20 quintals.’
Sitaram Chaudhary of Dhusi village, Bhajani Municipality-3, is cultivating Chaite rice through the zone program run in rice cultivation. Farmers here are preparing to sow this rice on about 500 bighas. ‘In the first year, when I brought seeds and planted Chaite rice, the villagers used to say that I was crazy for planting rice in Chaite too. “Most of the farmers here have started cultivating it now,” said Sitaram, “Since the weather is favorable for Chaite rice in Baisakh and Jestha, the production is higher than that of summer rice.”
Recounting his experience of growing up to 45 quintals of Chaite rice per bigha, he said that the wheat super zone and Chaite rice zone programs have increased production. Farmers say that the summer rice crop is destroyed due to flooding caused by the Kanda, Patharaiya and Kandra rivers in the Bhajani area during the rainy season. As the problem of flooding has increased, farmers here have started cultivating Chaite paddy as an alternative.
‘The problem of flooding in the fields during the rainy season, which makes it difficult to navigate boats, has destroyed the annual paddy crop,’ said Sitaram. ‘Most farmers have started cultivating Chaite paddy as an alternative to paddy cultivation during the rainy season.’ Stating that farmers have started cultivating Chaite paddy during the time when there is no flooding, he said that the farmers have become more excited after the zone program was launched.
The Chaite paddy zone program was started in the district from the financial year 2078/79. Initially, 500 hectares of rice were cultivated in Bhajani Municipality, but the area has now been expanded to 1,000 hectares, according to the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project Office.
Govinda Raj Joshi, Head of the Project Implementation Unit, Dhangadhi, informed that the ‘Zone Program’ under Chaite Rice is being implemented in Bhajani Municipality, Joshipur and Janakinagar Rural Municipality. According to him, the ‘Super Zone Program’ for wheat cultivation is being implemented in Gauriganga, Bhajani and Ghodaghodi municipalities, Bardagoriya, Joshipur and Janakinagar rural municipalities.
Noting that under the wheat cultivation program, an area of one thousand hectares was cultivated in the initial years, the area has now been expanded to three thousand hectares, Joshi mentioned that oilseeds are being cultivated in Ghodaghodi, Bhajani municipalities and Bardagoriya, Janakinagar rural municipalities of the district.
From the current fiscal year, the ‘Fish Zone’ program has been implemented in the Dhangadhi sub-metropolitan area as well as in Ghodaghodi, Bhajani and Kailari rural municipalities, informed the unit chief Joshi. According to him, under this program, farmers participating in fish farming are being provided with support such as improvement of natural lakes, facilities of modern machinery and equipment, construction of new ponds, provision of technology, etc.
The project office is providing support in the form of improved seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, agricultural machinery, soil testing, establishment and operation of processing centers for the implementation of the Super Zone and Zone programs being run through farmer groups, cooperatives and agricultural entrepreneurs, Chief Joshi said.
‘With the implementation of the Super Zone and Zone programs, crop productivity has also increased compared to before,’ he said. ‘We are providing farmers with support in the form of improved seeds, irrigation, machinery and technology to select and cultivate those programs on land considered fertile for crops.’ Unit Chief Joshi says that the program will be more effective if agricultural technology is ensured, marketing arrangements are made, as well as concessional loans and agricultural insurance.
He said, ‘We have been providing subsidies in agriculture, but there has been dissatisfaction among farmers who have not received subsidies. As this is having an adverse effect on the agricultural system, arrangements should be made to provide subsidies to everyone. It is necessary for the concerned bodies to coordinate in this regard.’
While Nepal has traditionally practiced subsistence farming, the government has launched the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project since the fiscal year 2073-74 with the aim of reducing the import of agricultural produce by modernizing and commercializing the technology and production inputs necessary to increase agricultural production, mechanizing crop production, and providing the necessary infrastructure for processing and marketing.
Under this project, super zone and zone programs are being run in various districts of the country for various crops.
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