Effect of unseasonal rainfall on rice production in Nepal during the year 2021: A case study

Abstract

Our study explicit the information regarding the status losses and the compensation amount We browsed the website of Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) and visited Agriculture Knowledge Centre to obtain the information. Rice is a major cereal crop, contributing around 25% of GDP and majority of working population are engaged in rice production for at least half year. Increasing population and pernicious natural hazards had declined the rice production leading to increment in import of rice from neighboring countries. Nepal received 15% more rain than average monsoon in year 2021. Flooding in various areas of Nepal occurred, causing huge loss of rice production along with destruction of lives and property indirectly leading to food insecurity. The onset of heavy unseasonal monsoon, occurred at the period when rice crops were ready to harvest or ready to thresh, undermined the labor, time and money invested by the farmers. The total rice production has been reduced to 5.13 million tons in 2021 from 5.55 million tons in 2020 at the rate of 8.74%. Lumbini Province faced the highest loss, followed by Sudarpaschim Province of Nepal. Climate change was the major factor responsible for this, hampering the agricultural productivity. Government of Nepal had decided to provide compensation to them based on three categories: small farmers having holdings of up to 10 katthas received compensation of 65% of their cost of production , medium farmers having land holdings from 11 to 40 katthas received 30% of their cost of production ,the large farmers having land holdings more than 40 katthas received compensation 20% of their cost of production. Also, the partially affected farmers received compensation 20% of their cost of production.