Kailali. Krishna Chaudhary of Bhajani Municipality has been cultivating Chaite rice for the past five years. Chaite rice, which started with an area of five katta, has now spread to three bighas. He said that he is expanding the cultivation after it gives good yields.
‘It takes more effort, if irrigation facilities can be provided, Chaite rice will yield more than rain-fed rice,’ he said. ‘There is no problem with the market either. Since the yield is good, the attraction of farmers will increase.’ Chaite rice has become special for hundreds of farmers like Krishna, as there is no farming during the rainy season due to inundation. The fields of Bhajani, which is most affected by inundation in the district, are currently green with rice. Most farmers have planted rice after bringing in the winter crops.
Some farmers are still busy planting rice. ‘In our area, there is no farming due to the excessive flooding during the rainy season,’ said Baldev Chaudhary of the same place. ‘Chaite rice has become the main crop. Even though the rice produced there is enough to eat, other economic transactions have also been diverted from it.’
The Prime Minister’s Agricultural Modernization Project has been operating the Chaite rice expansion program in the Bhajani area. Rice zones have been operated in wards no. 3 and 8 of the municipality. Project Chief Govinda Raj Joshi said that the rice cultivation expansion program is going well due to the attraction shown by farmers towards Chaite rice.
‘Farmers have received great benefits after the project started operating the zone. Rice cultivation has also been expanding every year,’ he said, ‘Last year, the project supported Chaite rice on about 500 hectares, and this year it has expanded to about 500 hectares.’
The project has been operating the Chaite rice expansion program in Bhajani, Kailari Rural Municipality, Joshipur Rural Municipality, and Ghodaghodi Municipality. According to Project Chief Joshi, this year the project has supported Chaite rice expansion on 1,000 hectares. He said that the project has been supporting farmers with seeds and other agricultural equipment.
According to the statistics of the Agricultural Knowledge Center, Chaite paddy cultivation is being done on 1,500 hectares this year. Tek Bahadur Bista, the head of the Knowledge Center, informed that paddy cultivation has increased by 300 hectares this year compared to last year.
‘Although the statistics have not been collected, paddy cultivation has been done on more than 1,500 hectares. Of which, the Knowledge Center has supported 250 hectares, he said, “80 percent of which is being cultivated in Bhajani Municipality.” Bista said that after the flood in Bhajani in 2063 BS caused damage to the rice crop worth more than 15 million rupees, farmers have started growing Chaite rice as an alternative.
Although farmers are increasingly attracted to it because it gives better yields than rainfed rice, the cost is expensive, he said. “There is no easy access to irrigation in the current season, it is expensive to draw water from underground for irrigation,” he said. “We are making a program to provide assistance to farmers for electricity subsidies to facilitate irrigation.” Bista said that the knowledge center is planning to provide subsidies to farmers for machinery needed to harvest and dry rice.
After the Prime Minister’s Agricultural Modernization Project and the Agricultural Knowledge Center provided assistance in Chaite rice, Bhajani Municipality has not provided assistance in that area this year. The program has not been included in the current fiscal year, saying it will be a ‘duplication’ of the program, said Sushovan Adhikari, head of the municipality’s agriculture branch. “Even though we do not have a program, there is technical support,” he says, adding that the number of farmers in Chaite paddy is increasing every year. This year, Chaite paddy has expanded to more than one thousand hectares within the municipal area. He said that he has been facilitating farmers based on their needs.
The government has also fixed the support price of Chaite paddy for the first time. Farmers who have been demanding that the government fix the support price of Chaite paddy are now happier after the support price of paddy has been fixed. “We were not able to fix the price of paddy in the market. We had to be satisfied with whatever the traders offered,” said farmer Kallu Dagaura, “Now we have got the price of paddy. That is why farmers have planted more paddy this year.” The government has fixed the support price of Chaite paddy at Rs 2,800.69 per quintal.
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