Around 90 per cent paddy plantation has been completed throughout the country so far, ministry data shows.

As per the data collected by the Ministry of Agricultural Development as on August 2, rice plantation is over in many parts of the country.

Only 77 per cent rice plantation had been done in the corresponding period last year. This year, the Ministry estimates, 98 per cent rice plantation would have been done by the second week of this month.

The Ministry said rice yield last fiscal year was 5 million 151 thousand metric tonnes and the yield is expected to reach approximately 5.5 million metric tonnes this time. The rice production in fiscal year 2016/17 was 5.23 metric tonnes.

Ministry joint spokesman Shankar Sapkota said that the Tarai region produces the bulk of rice in the country. It produces 71 per cent of the total rice yield while the yield in the hilly region is 29 per cent of the total production.

Rice is planted on one million 550 thousand hectares of land. Fluctuation of about 10 per cent in rice production leads to one per cent fluctuation in the country’s GDP.

The Ministry said rice production has been growing by approximately four per cent yearly since three decades.