Farmers in Saptari Busy Planting Chaite Paddy (Photo Feature)

Saptari — The House of Representatives election has just concluded, and vote results from across the country have already been announced. While those elected after seeking votes prepare to enter Parliament, the farmers who cast those votes have returned to their fields, busy planting Chaite paddy with hopes that the new government will finally address their basic demands—timely supply of fertilizer, irrigation, electricity, and other essential support.

Farmers in Saptari are currently engaged in planting Chaite paddy in their fields. The crop is typically sown in Falgun, transplanted in early Chait, and harvesting begins around mid-June. Though it matures in a short period of 80 to 90 days, farmers in Saptari say its yield is nearly double that of the main paddy harvested in Mangsir.

Despite its higher yield, local farmers say Chaite paddy cultivation is costly. Apart from expenses for seedling uprooting, ploughing, transplanting, and weeding, irrigation accounts for the biggest cost. Farmers say irrigating a kattha of land costs around Rs200 when using electric borewells and about Rs300 when using diesel pumps.

As the crop is grown during the dry season, irrigation is required every four days, which significantly increases expenses. Farmers say there should be reliable irrigation facilities and that irrigation should be provided free of cost. Lack of irrigation remains a major barrier to expanding spring paddy cultivation in Nepal.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Saptari, Chaite paddy has been planted on about 2,500 hectares of land this year in several local units, including Bishnupur Rural Municipality, Chhinnamasta Rural Municipality, Rajgadh Rural Municipality, Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality, Mahadeva Rural Municipality, Rupani Rural Municipality, Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality, Bodebarsain Municipality, Khadak Municipality, and Shambhunath Municipality.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that Chaite paddy generally has higher productivity than the monsoon-season Asare paddy. Rice is a photosynthetic crop, meaning greater sunlight can lead to higher yields, which is one of the reasons spring paddy tends to produce more than rainy-season paddy.

In Nepal, Chaite paddy is cultivated on 108,607 hectares of land and produces about 540,331 tons of rice—an average yield of 4.98 tons per hectare. In contrast, Asare paddy is grown on 1,339,182 hectares but produces about 4,946,141 tons, averaging 3.74 tons per hectare.

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