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🇳🇵 Nepal /Economy & Trade

Nepal is growing more rice but losing indigenous varieties

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Nepal is producing more rice overall but is losing many of its indigenous varieties, which are adapted to local conditions.
  • Farmers are increasingly replacing traditional varieties with imported hybrid seeds, primarily due to hybrids offering higher yields in shorter maturation periods.
  • Some traditional varieties, like Sona Mansuli, remain popular despite government bans due to disease concerns, highlighting a conflict between farmer preference and agricultural policy.

While Nepal's overall rice production is increasing, the country is facing a significant decline in its diverse range of indigenous rice varieties. These traditional crops, deeply integrated into the farming culture and adapted to the Tarai region's soil and climate, are being steadily replaced by imported hybrid varieties.

The disappearance of traditional rice varieties is unfortunate. Disease outbreaks around harvest time have also been a major reason. Farmers have been abandoning these varieties for about a decade.

— Surendra Prasad KurmiChief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Rautahat district, explaining the reasons behind the decline of traditional rice varieties.

The shift is largely driven by economic pressures. Traditional rice varieties often require longer maturation periods and yield less, making them more vulnerable to diseases compared to hybrid counterparts. Hybrid varieties promise higher yields in a shorter timeframe, allowing farmers to harvest earlier and potentially plant a second crop. For instance, traditional varieties like Sabitri, Ram Dhan, and Radha-4 can take 140 to 160 days to mature and produce three to four tonnes per hectare, while hybrids mature in 120 to 130 days and yield six to eight tonnes per hectare.

Surendra Prasad Kurmi, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Rautahat district, noted that disease outbreaks around harvest time have also contributed to farmers abandoning traditional varieties over the past decade. Farmers in Rautahat now favor hybrid seeds like Gorkhanath and Loknath, sourced from India or China. This trend reflects a broader transformation in the Tarai's rice fields, where the demand for increased food production in less time is reshaping agricultural practices.

Farmers are still secretly growing Sona Mansuli.

— Surendra Prasad KurmiDescribing the continued cultivation of a popular traditional rice variety despite a government ban.

Even popular traditional varieties like Sona Mansuli face challenges. The government banned its cultivation five years ago due to repeated blast disease outbreaks. However, it remains favored by many farmers who continue to grow it secretly, illustrating a tension between agricultural policy and farmer preference. Seeds for other traditional varieties, such as Soni, Katarni, and Ram Dhan, are also being imported from India. Nepal has 69 documented indigenous rice varieties, but Kurmi estimates that only about 5 percent are still actively cultivated, with many on the verge of extinction.

Most of them are on the verge of disappearing. Only about 5 percent are still being cultivated.

— Surendra Prasad KurmiQuantifying the critical status of Nepal's documented indigenous rice varieties.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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