Paddy production is likely to increase by 13.7 percent to over 5.07 million tons in this year 2011/12 compared to the last year due to the favourable climate conditions.

The agro experts also believe that the production growth witnessed this year would likely meet the target of 5 percent GDP growth by the government which would also help in food security in the country.

According to the preliminary projection report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), paddy production has increased by 611,800 tons this year. However, the ministry is yet to publicise the real report of the paddy production.

MoAC statistics also show that the cultivation land of the paddy has slightly increased by 2.3 percent to 1.53 million hectares this year compared to last year’s 1.49 million hectares.

The paddy production has also soared up by 11 percent to 3.3 kg per hectare while the production was some 2.98 tons per hectare last year.

The total production of paddy was 4.46 million tons in the year 2010/11 and 4.46 million tons in 2009/10, according to MoAC.

Apart from paddy, the production growth of other cereal crops is also projected to go up this year, says MoAC. nepalnews.com