Kathmandu, July 20: Paddy transplantation has gathered significant momentum across Nepal over the past two weeks, with nearly 70 percent of the country’s paddy fields now planted, aided by favourable monsoon rains.
According to the Department of Agriculture, paddy has been transplanted on 958,574 hectares of the country’s total 1.37 million hectares of paddy cultivation area as of Friday, bringing the national plantation rate to 69.77 percent.
The pace of transplantation has accelerated sharply in recent weeks. The plantation rate has risen by almost 24 percentage points from about 46 percent on July 10, while only 25 percent of the total paddy area had been planted by July 3.
The improvement has been attributed to consistent monsoon rainfall across most parts of the country, allowing farmers to intensify transplantation activities. Despite the recent progress, this year’s plantation remains slightly behind last year’s pace, when about 72 percent of the total paddy area had been transplanted by July 20, 2025.
Sudurpaschim leads plantation
Among the seven provinces, Sudurpaschim Province has recorded the highest paddy transplantation rate at 90.67 percent, with 174,106 hectares planted out of its total 192,019 hectares of paddy cultivation area.
Lumbini Province follows with 80.65 percent transplantation, covering 243,042 hectares of its 301,372 hectares of paddy fields. In Gandaki Province, transplantation has reached 78.36 percent, with 73,349 hectares planted out of a total 93,606 hectares.
Bagmati Province has completed transplantation on 77.33 percent of its 114,524 hectares, while Karnali Province has achieved 77.05 percent, covering 33,353 hectares of its 43,290 hectares of paddy fields.
Koshi and Madhesh lag behind
Koshi Province has recorded the lowest transplantation rate, with paddy planted on 54.86 percent of its 276,387 hectares of cultivation area, equivalent to 151,619 hectares. In Madhesh Province, which has the country’s largest paddy cultivation area at 385,933 hectares, transplantation has reached 57.93 percent, covering 221,546 hectares.
Officials expect plantation activities to continue over the coming days as favourable monsoon conditions persist across major agricultural regions. #nepal #paddy #rice
