Faguram Chaudhary of Bhajani Municipality-7 of Kailali used to raise two crops of grain annually until a few years ago. He kept enough food for the family and sold the leftover rice and wheat. But he was not able to grow it commercially. The method of cultivation of rice, wheat, mustard, lentils and other crops was old. In which more effort is required but the output is less.

Now, the way of cultivating the same faguram has changed . They leave the traditional tools used in the fields and use modern tools. Advanced varieties of seeds, treatment of diseases in rice-wheat and insecticides are used to kill insects and grasshoppers . Chaudhary says that this has not only reduced the labor required in the field, but also increased the production.

Usually two crops of grain are produced in a year depending on the season . But Phaguram now produces three crops . One crop of wheat, mustard and two crops of paddy . A single crop of rice is produced in paddy. The seeds are collected in January and planted between February and March. This paddy ripens in about 120 days from the last week of May to the first week of June. Barkhe paddy is planted after this.

'Chaite paddy is like a bonus for us . It has become another way to earn income in free time after wheat ripening, says Faguram. He has planted this paddy in 12 bigha area under the Social Improvement Agricultural Group . Khushiram Chaudhary, a farmer of Bhajani-3, who has been cultivating chaite paddy for the past 4 years, said that he had good income by planting three crops a year. "Chaite paddy is yielding more fruits than barkhe paddy," Chaudhary said, "this has significantly improved the standard of living of the farmers." Ward No. 3, 5 and 8 are areas with high risk of flooding and inundation. Only winter crops are produced in this area. Farmers here were in distress as paddy was not produced in dry season. But since last three years, Chaite rice production has started to increase in this area . Asharani Dagaunra Chaite of Bhajani Municipality-3 Dhusi is happy to plant paddy. Until 3 years ago, most of his family's expenses were spent on buying food . But now, after starting to produce rice by herself, Dangoura says that she is saving money.

'Dhan Cham always had to buy . Nothing would grow in the rain. Now we grow Chaite paddy more than dry season . There is no loss', Asharani says. She has planted chaite paddy in an area of ​​30 bighas under the Radhakrishna Agricultural Group. Goddess Dangaura of Bhajani-5 has also seen Chaite paddy cultivation as a good possibility.

Farmers from different areas of Kailali have been growing this rice since the past. But as there was not much study about this crop that grows in the basin, the rice was not growing as expected. Currently, the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project has been giving subsidies to farmers in various municipalities of Kailali for conducting studies on Chaite paddy and soil testing. This has increased the production along with the expansion of chaite paddy cultivation in the district.

According to the data of the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project Kailali, Chaite rice has been cultivated in 1400 hectares in Kailali this year. Out of that, 476 hectares of land has been subsidized by the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project. The target was 600 hectares. In the financial year 2079/80, planting of Chaite rice was started from an area of ​​50 hectares. In 080/81, this paddy was planted across the district in an area of ​​172 hectares. Chaite paddy cultivation has been expanded in most of the wards of Bhajani, Joshipur and Janki Rural Municipality in the current year. Ward No. 1 to 5 of Joshipur, Ward No. 3, 6 and 8 of Bhajani and Ward No. 4 of Janki Rural Municipality have been declared as 'Rice Zone' area for paddy production.

Govind Joshi, senior agricultural officer of the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, Kailali, says that this rice yields one and a half times more than Barkhe rice. According to him, although there are various seeds for Chaite paddy in the market, Chaite 4, Chaite 5, Hardinath 1 and Hardinath 4 farmers have planted more. Officer Joshi says that if this rice can be expanded, the farmers of Kailali can produce unexpected rice. The

project has estimated that 3 thousand 241 metric tons of rice will be produced in the designated areas this year. In Kailali, 263 metric tons in 079/80 in 50 hectares, 1 thousand 171 in 172 hectares in 080/81  Metric tons of chaite paddy was produced . A budget of 38 lakh rupees was allocated in the current financial year for the expansion of Chaite paddy. Ritu Dhami, Agriculture Officer of Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project Kailali informed that this amount was spent on subsidies, technical support, zinc sulfate, pesticides, herbicides, electric spares, electric motors, tripal and delivery pipe distribution to the farmers.

According to him, the project has been giving a subsidy of Rs 8,500 per hectare. More than 20,000 farmers of about 4,000 households have benefited from this project.

Irrigation problem

The small farmer group led by Sitaram Dangoura of Bhajani-3 has been cultivating Chaite 4 and Chaini 5 varieties of paddy. Dangoura says that three farmers have become debt free with this rice production. Even though the yield is higher compared to Barkhe rice, the problems of disease, insects and water will be more. Farmers complain that there is a shortage of electricity for irrigation as rice consumes a lot of water. Asha Rani Dangoura, president of Radha Krishna Women's Farmers Group, said that they had to face the lack of electricity for irrigation.

says, 'Electricity power does not reach the fields . After irrigating one bigha of paddy, we have to wait for 3 days for the next bigha.' Due to the lack of water in this season, the farmers do not have the option of electricity to irrigate. But farmers are in trouble due to lack of electricity in most of the places where there is cultivable land. Ekal Choudhary, the mayor of Bhajani municipality, said that the municipality has allocated a budget of 21.1 million for the connection of electricity to the farm. He says that if that amount is not enough, he will add another 300,000. Chowdhury says that he is committed to promoting Chaite rice more and more in Bhajani, which is a submerged area.