सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Tulsipur. Under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project (Maize Superzone), three crops of maize are cultivated in the Deukhuri area of Dang. Every year, winter, spring and rainy maize are cultivated in an area of 3,800 hectares. Among them, the majority of farmers cultivate spring maize.
According to Chandrashoba Kandel, the information officer of the project, 32,000 metric tons more is produced when three crops are planted. According to her, 32,894 metric tons of maize were produced in the fiscal year 2080/81 alone. She says that production is increasing every year.
In the fiscal year 2079/80, 26,455 metric tons of maize were produced. Rampur Hybrid-10 maize is being grown in the Deukhuri area. According to Information Officer Kandel, the production area is also increasing every year. In the fiscal year 2079/80, maize was cultivated on 3,700 hectares, while in the fiscal year 2080/81, maize is being cultivated on 3,800 hectares.
He said that the attraction of farmers to cultivate this crop every year is increasing. The office has been providing seeds to farmers at a 50 percent subsidy. The maize is being cultivated as Rampur Hybrid-10, Arun-2 and Rampur Composite varieties are also being provided as subsidies.
Thus, the maize produced by farmers is sold in shops and feed industries, and since the seed companies purchase the seeds, there is no problem in marketing, says Information Officer Kandel.
Various technologies are being used for maize cultivation. According to the geographical structure, seed drills, bio planters and in some places even tractors are used to sow corn and then rotavators are used.
Maize is now being cultivated on land that was previously kept barren. Information Officer Kandel said that this is increasing the source of income for farmers. This is how corn is cultivated in Lamahi Municipality, Gadhwa, Rapti and Rajpur Rural Municipality of Dang. Barkhe maize is planted in Baisakh-Jeshtha, winter maize in Bhadau-Asoj and spring maize in Magh-Phalgun.
The Maize Superzone program has been operational in Dang since the fiscal year 2073/74 with the aim of establishing specialized areas for various crops and promoting production, value chain, modernization and commercialization. After the operation of the Superzone program, commercial maize production has started to take off in Deukhuri.
‘There was a perception that barkhe maize cultivation is more common in this area and that farmers could only grow maize during the barkhe season,’ said Information Officer Kandel. ‘First of all, it was necessary to change this kind of thinking of farmers. For this, we have implemented the program by giving first priority to winter and spring farming through the result-based incentive grant program.’
Nowadays, the farmers of Deukhuri have developed the practice of cultivating maize in the winter and spring seasons as well. Custom hiring centers have been established and are operational in various places in the Deukhuri region. Through which farmers have also been renting modern agricultural machinery for maize farming.
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