Kanchanpur wheat fields on the decline

KANCHANPUR, NOV 04 -

The district’s wheat fields are being lost to ever increasing urbanization and land plotting. According to the Agriculture Development Office, the area under wheat cultivation has dropped to 31,750 hectares from 33,250 hectares five years ago. The office said in addition to urba-nization, the rising preference of farmers to grow cash crops had led to less land being devoted to wheat cultivation.

Cash crops give better returns in a short period of time compared to wheat which requires around six months to mature. As Kailali and Kanchanpur districts are the leading food producers in the Far West Region, a continuous decline in food grain production areas has posed a major challenge for them to feed their population.  

“The area under wheat production is declining gradually. Kanchanpur has lost around 2,000 hectares wheat fields within five years,” said Ram Chandra Bhatta, an agriculture officer. “Due to lower returns compared to cash crops, farmers are losing interest in growing wheat.”

Meanwhile, the amount of land being used to grow banana and sugarcane has been expanding. In many parts of the district, farmers have started commercial vegetable farming. Farmers said that wheat production was highly labour intensive. In addition, unavailability of fertilizers and proper irrigation system has prompted farmers to choose cash crops.

Wheat productivity in Kanchanpur is 1.76 tonnes per hectare which is very nominal, according to the office. “Productivity can be increased up to 3 tonnes per hectare if fertilizers, seed supply and irrigation facilities are improved,” Bhatta added.

As limited subsidies are offered to farmers who grow food grain, an increasing amount of the rural labour force has been flocking into cities to find jobs, leaving their farm land idle.

According to the office, pulses and oilseeds are grown on 6,000 and 5,000 hectares respectively. Banana and sugarcane are grown on 4,400 and 4,500 hectares respectively. There are 82,153 households in Kanchanpur district and farming is done on 56,000 hectares.