Kathmandu June 30 : The 20th National Paddy Day is being marked today across the country. The government had decided in 2061 BS to mark Ashad 15 of the Nepali calendar every year as National Paddy Day and Paddy Cultivation Festival.

Rice plantation, eating delicacies like curd and beaten rice, and participating in the traditional cultural programmes like singing, throwing mud at each other and merriment, are the major attractions of the day. Paddy is the major crop not only in Nepal but in entire South Asia.

The government aims to attain self-sufficiency in rice production by conserving the land for paddy cultivation, promoting clean and healthy seeds, expanding irrigation facilities, and developing hybrid and disease-resistant varieties.

Paddy is cultivated on 47 per cent of the total cultivable land in Nepal. Likewise, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has extended best wishes to all on this day stating that the government has been implementing different programmes including expansion of irrigation supply, grants on chemical fertiliser and seeds, expansion of modern technology, research and development, among others to increase the production of paddy.

The PM has also cautioned that the target of paddy production could be affected due to impacts of climate change–draught, heavy rain, scanty rain, natural disasters and spread of diseases–and pose challenges to our food security. Against this backdrop, the PM has underscored the need of development of climate-resilient species of paddy and development of new technology for the increment of paddy production to substitute import of rice and paddy in the country and remain self-reliant.