Wheat production to rise by 8.68 percent

Due to the favourable weather condition, production of wheat, the third largest major cereal crop of the country after paddy, has registered a steady growth of 8.68 percent this season.

The data of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) shows that the total production of wheat stood at 1.5 million metric tons, up from 1.39 million metric tons of a year earlier, which means that the per capita production of wheat has gone up to 53 kilograms per year from last year's 44 kilograms.


The good weather in the mid and eastern terai and subsequent rises in yield pushed up the overall yield of the wheat, said Hem Raj Regmi, a senior officer at the MoAC.

“However, the production fell far short of expectation in the hilly and mountainous districts due to hail and snowfall.” He said the rise in wheat cultivation in additional land also contributed to raise the overall production.

The Ministry has estimated that wheat was planted in 0.72 million hectares of land this year, compared to 0.67 million hectares of a year earlier.

Wheat plantation season normally begins from November and lasts until December in the country. It is harvested in April and accounts for five percent of the agro-gross domestic product.

The country experienced a rise of 2.59 percent in pulses production, with its total output reaching 0.27 million metric tons.

During the current fiscal year, total cereal crops production decreased by 4.28 percent to 7.3 million metric tons, dragged down by the heavy fall in production of paddy. This year, the country produced over 12 percent less paddy than that of last year's production.

Because of drought, paddy plantation was delayed in many places while farmers could not plant paddy in 100,000 hectares of land due to the paucity of rainfall.

On horticulture crops, the production of potato fell by 1.60 percent to 1.9 million metric tons. However, vegetables output rose by 6.3 percent to 2.3 million metric tons as more farmers were attracted toward commercial vegetable farming. Likewise, production of fruits grew by around five percent to 0.56 million metric tons.

On cash crops, sugarcane production increased by 5.57 percent to 2.6 million metric tons. However, tobacco products inched down by 2.85 percent