RAUTAHAT: Paddy production in Rautahat district has declined this year compared to last year due to floods triggered by incessant rainfall in September.
The floods inundated paddy fields during the crucial harvesting period, significantly affecting overall output. Surendra Prasad Kurmi, Acting Chief of the Agricultural Knowledge Center, Rautahat, said the district recorded a decrease of 21,578 metric tons in paddy production this year.
According to him, Rautahat produced 116,708 metric tons of paddy last year, while production this year stood at 95,130 metric tons. Kurmi said paddy was cultivated on 31,500 hectares of land this year, with an average yield of 3.02 metric tons per hectare.
In contrast, last year paddy was cultivated on 35,808 hectares, with an average yield of 3.26 metric tons per hectare. As a result, per-hectare productivity declined by 0.24 metric tons compared to the previous year.
The Agricultural Knowledge Center reported that paddy cultivation area shrank by around 4,300 hectares due to a lack of timely rainfall. In addition, floods in September damaged paddy crops across 17,638 hectares of farmland after embankments along the Bakaiya and Bagmati rivers were washed away.
The floods caused extensive damage in Rajdevi, Paroha, Rajpur, Madhav Narayan, Gadhimai, Ishnath, and Maulapur municipalities, as well as Durga Bhagwati Rural Municipality, officials said.
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