A review on production status and growing environments of rice in Nepal and in the world

Abstract

Rice is a major food crop for the people of the world. The role of rice is inevitable in the current and future global food security. It is the number one staple food crop in Nepal and contributes significantly to livelihood of majority of people and to the national economy. This article reviews global rice production scenarios; figures out global Mega Rice Environments (MREs) and based on these analyses, the authors developed Nepal's Rice Production Environments (RPEs). The Asian countries dominate the global rice production. India has the largest area of rice cultivation. China is the world's largest producer of rice. Rice productivity is highest in Japan. Rice is cultivated in diverse agro-ecosystems. Rice environments are classified mainly based on land types (upland vs. lowland) and water regimes (irrigated and rainfed). The MREs of the world are classified into seven categories (Four irrigated, two rainfed and one for deep water rice). A total of nine RPEs were identified for Nepal-six under irrigated and three under rainfed conditions. The findings of this study are useful for rice researchers, producers and policy makers.

Farmers’ perception on the performance of different rice varieties in Kapilvastu district, Nepal

“…It provides diet to millions of Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans in tropics and subtropics regions (Yoshida, 1981). In Nepal, rice ranks first food crop, provides more than 50% calories to the Nepalese diet (Basnet, 2008;Gauchan et al, 2014;Kharel et al, 2018: Gadal et al, 2019Devkota et al, 2019). Rice contributed 31.4% and 21% to GDP and AGDP respectively (MoF, 2017;Bhusal et al, 2018).…”

Response of rice to different organic and inorganic nutrient sources at Parwanipur, Bara district of Nepal

“…Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple food crop, extensively cultivated in Nepal. It only accounts for more than 50% of the total calories of Nepalese people (Kharel et al, 2018: Gadal et al, 2019. Rice contributes 20% to the agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) and 7% to national GDP (MOAD, 2015;Adhikari et al, 2018).…”

Screening of local, improved and hybrid rice genotypes against leaf blast disease (Pyricularia oryzae) at Banke district, Nepal

“…A total of 78 inbred rice genotypes have been released and 33 hybrid rice varieties have been registered for commercial cultivation in Nepal (MoAD, 2015/16). Rice only accounts for more than 50% of the total calories of Nepalese people (Kharel et al, 2018: Gadal et al, 2019. To feed ever increasing population, rice production in Nepal has to be increased over 6.0 million tons by 2020 to meet the growing demand of ever increasing population (Kharel et al, 2018).…”