Farmer Ratan Rawat of Chandannath Municipality-9 in Jumla has been cultivating rice along with apples and vegetables. In the beginning, he was only cultivating rice, but later he started apple and vegetable cultivation. He has now reduced rice cultivation and increased apple and vegetable cultivation. Till 4 years ago, he was cultivating paddy on 10 kattas of land, but now he has reduced it to 6 kattas.

"Earlier, I was planting rice in all the fields. "Now, after expanding the apple orchard, the paddy fields were used for the apple nursery," he said. He has also added a farm. But the added field is not for paddy but for apple and other vegetable cultivation . 

Ratan is not the only one who is reducing rice cultivation. Another farmer of his village, Khadak Budha, has also reduced the land for paddy cultivation now compared to a few years ago. He says that the land for paddy cultivation has been reduced by exactly half compared to before. He says that till 3 years ago, 30 sacks of paddy was produced more than now it is reduced to only 15 sacks. He said that the land for paddy cultivation was reduced after the income from apples, apple picking and vegetables started to increase. He said that earlier rice farming farmers are now turning to apple and vegetable farming.

Ratan says that he expanded apple cultivation after the apple market improved. He said that although there is no intention to reduce rice cultivation, they are planting more apples and less rice as they get better income from apples. He said that since 2/4 years, the production of rice has decreased due to various diseases and the farmers are reducing the cultivation of rice. "Recently, farmers have been attracted towards vegetable farming," he said, "after planting vegetables, they can eat and earn more than rice, so they started to grow vegetables." Farmers are also focused on vegetable seed production. Farmers are also engaged in apple cultivation.'

Data also proves that rice production is decreasing in Karnali recently. This year, less paddy has been produced in Karnali than last year. In the financial year 2081/082, 123 thousand 795 metric tons of rice were produced in an area of ​​39 thousand 763 hectares. Last year, 1 lakh 24 thousand 969 metric tons of rice was produced. 1 thousand 174 metric tons less rice has been produced this year than last year. 

Surkhet, Salyan, Dailekh, Rukum West of Karnali produce more rice. Then Jajarkot, Jumla, Kalikot are among the districts producing rice. The Himalayan districts of Dolpa, Humla, Mugu produce very little rice. Surkhet district has produced the most paddy this year. 

52 thousand 94 metric tons of paddy was produced in Surkhet. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, 25 thousand 120 metric tons of rice were produced in Dailekh and 23 thousand 630 metric tons in Salyan. Dolpa is the least paddy producing district this year . Only 350 metric tons of rice has been produced in Dolpa. Then 975 metric tons of rice was produced in Mugu. 

If we look at the data of the last 5 years, the production of paddy in Karnali is continuously decreasing. According to the ministry, 1 lakh 51 thousand 805 metric tons of rice was produced in the financial year 2076/077, while 1 lakh 37 thousand 165 metric tons were produced in the financial year 2077/078. Similarly, in the financial year 2078/079, 1 lakh 25 thousand 143 metric tons were produced, while in the financial year 2079/080, the production of rice increased by 3 thousand metric tons. In 2080/081, production decreased again to 124,969 metric tons.

In Karnali, 2 lakh 99 thousand 339 hectares of land is cultivable, but only 2 lakh 16 thousand 880 hectares of land is cultivated. Only 45 thousand 468 hectares of land is cultivated for rice. 

In Surkhet, paddy is cultivated on an area of ​​12 thousand 679 hectares. Similarly, in Dailekh 8 thousand 313, in Salyan 7 thousand 78 hectares of paddy cultivation. Similarly, in Rukum West, rice is cultivated in an area of ​​3 thousand 48 hectares, in Calikot in an area of ​​3 thousand 81 hectares and in Jajarkot in an area of ​​3 thousand 63 hectares.

According to Purna Bahadur Thapa, Agricultural Extension Officer and Information Officer of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, the production of rice has been decreasing for the past few years. According to him, production has decreased visibly. He said that the area is also decreasing. According to him, the area of ​​paddy cultivation has also decreased in Surkhet, Dailekh, Jajarkot, Salyan districts. "Rice is cultivated in the plains rather than in the hills," he said. Road construction was also done. Therefore, along with the production of rice, the area has also decreased.' 

He said that the production of paddy has also decreased due to lack of irrigation. In the hilly districts, the canals built for irrigation collapse during the rains. He said, "The lack of rain during the season is also a problem." If it doesn't rain on time, it is time to plant rice seeds. This makes planting time upside down . Even if it is planted late, the yield will be affected . Along with this, skilled manpower is needed for rice cultivation. We are facing this shortage of manpower.'

In Karnali, only 35.21 percent of the total arable land has irrigation facilities. Out of the total arable land, 38 thousand 338 hectares of land are irrigated throughout the year, while 30 thousand 3 hundred 2 hectares of land are under partial irrigation. He says that there is a problem of not getting enough seeds. Thapa says that the introduction of new diseases due to the introduction of hybrid rice is also a reason for the decline in rice production. He says, "The advanced rice we are producing from the research center already knows what kind of disease it will cause." Nothing coming from outside is found . After giving too much of the product, diseases have come along with it . Now it is necessary to prevent and investigate it.