The National Paddy Day, celebrated every year on the 15th of the Nepali month Asar, is being marked throughout the country on Saturday. This year’s National Rice Day slogan is ‘Climate-Friendly Agriculture, Increase in Rice Production.’

On this day, the first batch of paddy is planted, and people feast on delicacies made of curd, flattened rice, and fruits.

The Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project Implementation Unit, Chitwan, organised a festival at Bachauli, known as a pocket area for rice, in the presence of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Prime Minister Dahal and Minister for Agriculture Jwala Kumari Sah planted paddy saplings using a paddy transplanter.

Paddy is not planted everywhere at the same time due to erratic weather patterns. While seeds are kept for sowing in some places, paddy is planted in others, depending on the fluctuation in the arrival of the monsoon.

Likewise, various programmes were organised in Kathmandu Valley. Here are some photos by Deepak KC, Safal Prakash Shrestha in Kathmandu, and Ramesh Kumar Paudel in Chitwan.