Agriculture output to grow only 2pc this fiscal

KATHMANDU:

Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) has projected that the agriculture gross domestic product (AGDP) will grow by only two per cent this year due to a slump in the production of major cereal crops paddy and maize. This will subsequently hit economic growth this fiscal as agriculture sector has been contributing 34 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

In the previous fiscal, growth of agriculture sector (AGDP) was measured at 4.7 per cent due to increased production of cereal crops.

Despite rise in production of winter crops, country’s overall cereal crops output is projected to fall by 296,000 metric tonnes or three per cent this year as compared to previous fiscal, as per the preliminary report on Agricultural Output, 2014-15, unveiled today.

Summer crops, namely, paddy and maize have major weightage in agriculture production — reportedly, 52 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, in overall cereal crops output. Similarly, wheat, which is the major winter crop has 21 per cent weightage in cereal crops production, informed Hem Raj Regmi, senior agriculture economist of MoAD.

Production of cereal crops this fiscal will stand at 9.27 million tonnes against production of 9.56 million tonnes in the previous fiscal.

Of the three major cereal crops — paddy, maize and wheat — that has 96 per cent weightage in total cereal crops output, production of paddy is expected to decline to 4.79 million tonnes this year from 5.05 million tonnes recorded a year ago — a decline by around five per cent. Production of paddy will decline as the production area declined by 4.3 per cent this year. Paddy was cultivated on 1.49 million hectares last year, which decreased to 1.42 million hectares this fiscal.

Similarly, production of maize is expected to decline to 2.15 million tonnes this year from 2.28 million tonnes the previous fiscal — a decline of around six per cent. Production area of maize also decreased by five per cent or about 46,000 hectares as compared to the previous fiscal.

However, production of wheat is projected to increase to 1.98 million tonnes this year from 1.88 million tonnes a year ago due to adequate rainfall in winter, according to MoAD. Production area of wheat decreased marginally as compared to the previous fiscal.

MoAD has said that production of other winter crops like barley as well as vegetables and fruits is expected to increase. Production of barley is expected to increase by seven per cent against last year’s production of 37,000 tonnes.

Among vegetables, potato production is expected to increase by one per cent to 284,000 tonnes despite decreased production area. Production area of potato decreased by eight per cent to 190,000 hectares as compared to a year ago. Production of cash crops like flowers, spices, tea, coffee and sugarcane is also expected to rise this fiscal.

Source; THT