Dang becomes self-reliant on food

GHORAHI, Jan. 13: Dang district has become self-reliant on food grains. The statistic shows that the food grains produced in the district caters to the demand of the local residents and there is a food surplus as well.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Dang, a total of 75,991 hectares of land in the district is being used for farming which yields 294,074 metric tonnes of agricultural produces. 

Prithivi Raj Lamichhane, an agriculture economic expert for the Centre, shared that the crops produced in the district are proportionate to the number of people in the district. "The problem lies in the lack of the utility of the locally produced goods such as wheat, maize, millet, and barley among others," he added.

Although there is a bumper production of maize in the district, the majority of the local residents prefer rice over maize, said Lamichhane. The district recorded 33,540 metric tonnes of surplus grains in the fiscal year 2021/22.

A person requires around 201 kilograms of processed food grains in a year on average, informed Lamichhane, adding that the district requires 135,932 metric tonnes of food annually while the availability of food grains stands at 169,472 metric tonnes.

The population of the district as per the census in 2021 is 676,277. Paddy is cultivated across 39,400 hectares of land in the district which yields 173,360 metric tonnes, said the Centre.