KATHMANDU, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's rice imports surged by over 56 percent during the first 11 months of the current 2020-21 fiscal year ending in mid-July, though the country reported a record-high paddy production during the year, government record showed.
According to statistics by the Trade and Export Promotion Center under Nepal's Commerce Ministry, the South Asian country's rice import bill increased by 56.2 percent to 48.16 billion Nepali rupees (around 120 million U.S. dollars) during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.
Nepal imported rice from India, the United States and China, said the center.
The rise came at a time when the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development recorded an output of 5.62 million tons of paddy, a record high, from 1.47 million hectares of land.
The country produced 3.82 tons of paddy per hectare, also a record high, according to the ministry.
Nepal is aiming to make itself self-reliant in rice within five years starting from the current fiscal year.
Officials and experts say a growing rice-eating culture in the Nepali society, improved living standards and a preference for imported long-grained aromatic rice have contributed to the surge in rice imports.
"Rice produced in Nepal is mostly rough and large-grained," Dr. Yogendra Kumar Karki, secretary at Nepal's Agriculture Ministry, told Xinhua. "Along with improved living standards in recent years, Nepalis prefer long-grain aromatic rice such as Basmati rice for their meals."
According to Karki, home-grown rough rice is increasingly used in making alcohol drinks for local consumption.
In recent years, there is a growing trend of people migrating to urban centers as they have more incomes through remittances sent back by migrant workers. Families moving to urban centers usually buy rice for meals instead of cultivating land for it.
"In the past, people used to consume whatever they produced in their fields," Bhola Man Singh Basnet, a rice expert, told Xinhua. "Now, the rice eating culture has spread from remote mountainous regions in northern Nepal to the southern plains, as rice consumption is also linked with social status of a family."
According to Basnet, Nepal's production of 5.62 million tons of paddy is valued at around 150 billion Nepali rupees, or around 1.25 billion U.S. dollars. "The expected imports of rice worth over 50 billion Nepali rupees in 12 months this fiscal year is alarming as it has exposed the country to food security risks," he said.
However, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council, a government body dedicated to agricultural research, said the country's paddy production is almost sufficient to meet the needs of its some 30 million population.
"The production of just over 6 million tons of paddy in a year is enough to feed the current population of Nepal, the only reason we are importing more rice is the preference for long-grained and aromatic rice," said Ram Chandra Adhikari, director for planning and coordination at the research council.
Since the country is still facing a food deficit, officials and experts say Nepal needs to produce more to be self-reliant in rice within five years.
"We also need to increase domestic production of aromatic rice considering the preference for such rice among the Nepali masses," said Adhikari. "We have signed an agreement with the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute to increase the production of such rice along with hybrid rice."
Given a growing rice consumption among the masses, Nepali officials and experts say increasing production and productivity of paddy has become vital for long-term food security of the country. "In fact, rice security has become food security in Nepal," said Basnet.
He said Nepal could boost the cultivation of dry-season paddy which is limited in Nepal for now. Dry-season paddy is usually planted in March in Nepal and harvested before the monsoon starts in June.
"If we can increase the irrigation facilities, we can cultivate more such paddy," said Basnet. "The productivity of such paddy is higher than what is transplanted in the monsoon season because the productivity of paddy increases when the paddy plant is exposed more to the sun."
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Nepal was a net exporter of rice. As a matter of fact, the Nepali government even established seven companies in 1974 specifically for exporting rice.
According to South Asia Check, a Kathmandu-based fact checking website, Nepal exported 55,290 tons of rice to India as per the progress report of the seven companies recorded on Aug. 23, 1974. Rice accounted for 40 percent of Nepal's total exports that year.
"These companies exported rice for seven years but the country started importing rice in the eighth year," said Basnet. "In the 10th year of their establishment, all rice exporting companies were shut down as the country became a rice importing country." Enditem
