How to Grow Paddy in Nepal: Rice Cultivation Step-by-Step (Nursery to Harvest)

Rice (dhaan / धान) is Nepal's most important staple crop and the single largest contributor to the agricultural economy. In fiscal year 2079/80 BS (2022/23 AD) Nepal produced roughly 5.49 million tonnes of paddy, and national average productivity has hovered around 3.5 tonnes per hectare, which is still below the yields farmers achieve with good management. Understanding the full cycle from nursery to harvest is the first step to closing that yield gap.

Nepal grows rice across three broad ecological belts, and the calendar shifts with each. In the Terai and inner Terai (up to about 300 metres) the main monsoon crop is transplanted through Asar (mid-June to mid-July). In the mid-hills (roughly 600-1,500 metres) transplanting follows the arrival of reliable monsoon rain, and in high mountain valleys such as Jumla, cold-tolerant landraces are seeded and transplanted earlier (around Jyestha/May) because the growing season is short. Local rainfall, irrigation, altitude and variety all shift these windows, so always check your local Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC) advice.

The traditional start of the season is marked by National Paddy Day, Asar 15 (असार १५), celebrated as Dhan Diwas and 'Dahi Chiura Khane Din'; in 2026 AD (2083 BS) it falls on about 29 June. This festival is a useful anchor for planning: nursery seeding is typically done two to three weeks before the intended transplanting date.

A strong nursery decides half the crop. Choose fresh, certified or well-cleaned seed of a variety suited to your altitude and season, and test germination before sowing. A quick float test in salt water removes light, unfilled grains; discard floaters and use the heavier sunken seed. Soak seed for about 24 hours and incubate (thunse) for another 24-48 hours until white sprouts just appear, then sow onto a well-prepared wet or dry nursery bed.

The nursery bed should be a small, fertile, weed-free patch, roughly one-twentieth of the area you plan to transplant (about 500 square metres of nursery for one hectare of field). Level the bed, work in compost or well-rotted farmyard manure, and keep it moist. Protect young seedlings from birds and standing water. Sowing too thickly produces weak, spindly seedlings, so spread seed evenly.

Seedlings are ready to lift at about 20-25 days after sowing for improved varieties, when they have four to five leaves. A very common mistake in Nepal is transplanting 35-45 day-old seedlings, which sets back tillering and lowers yield. For the System of Rice Intensification (see below) seedlings are moved even younger, at just 8-12 days.

While the nursery grows, prepare the main field. For irrigated lowland (khet) rice, the field is flooded and then puddled - ploughed and harrowed while wet until the soil turns into a soft, uniform mud. Puddling (called 'juwaai/maato kamaaune') destroys weeds, reduces water loss through the soil, and creates a soft layer that makes transplanting easy and helps roots establish.

Do two to three passes with a plough (bull-drawn or power tiller), letting stubble and green manure rot down between passes. Incorporate 10-15 tonnes per hectare of farmyard manure or compost (roughly 6-10 doko per ropani) during land preparation; organic matter improves soil structure, water holding and the efficiency of chemical fertilizer.

Finish with careful levelling. A level field is one of the cheapest ways to raise yield: it lets you keep a thin, even film of water, distributes fertilizer uniformly, and stops weeds from taking over the high, dry patches. Build and repair the field bunds (aali/dil) so the puddled field holds water.

Transplanting is the heart of Nepali rice farming and the social high point of the monsoon, when families and neighbours work the muddy fields together singing asare geet. Lift seedlings gently from the nursery, keeping roots intact, and transplant into the puddled field on the same day if possible. Shallow planting (2-3 cm deep) into soft mud lets plants recover and tiller faster than deep, bunched planting.

Recommended practice is line transplanting at about 20 x 20 cm spacing (20 x 15 cm on fertile soils), placing two to three seedlings per hill for ordinary improved varieties. Line planting looks slower but pays back through easier weeding, better light and air, uniform tillering and higher yield than the traditional random 'jhyaap' method. Straight rows also make mechanical weeding and later top-dressing far easier.

Match the timing to your zone: Terai and inner Terai during Asar (mid-June to mid-July); mid-hills as the monsoon settles in; high valleys earlier, in Jyestha, to beat the cold. Avoid transplanting into a dry, un-flooded field or during a long dry spell - the seedlings should go into wet, warm soil with water available.

The long-standing blanket recommendation for irrigated lowland rice in Nepal is about 100:30:30 kg of N:P2O5:K2O per hectare; rainfed upland rice needs less, around 60:20:20 kg/ha. Since 2022 the government, through NARC's National Soil Science Research Center with CIMMYT/IFDC, has been rolling out site-specific recommendations across six zones (four Terai, one inner Terai, one hills) that fine-tune rates to your soil test, target yield and variety - so treat the figures here as a sensible default, not a substitute for a soil test.

Split the nitrogen to match crop demand: apply about half at transplanting (basal), a quarter at maximum tillering (about 20-25 days after transplanting), and the last quarter at panicle initiation. Apply the full dose of phosphorus and potassium as basal at final land preparation. Where soils are zinc-deficient (common in intensively cropped Terai fields), add 20-25 kg/ha of zinc sulphate at land preparation to prevent 'khaira' (zinc deficiency) disorder.

Because Nepali farmers buy fertilizer by material (urea, DAP, muriate of potash) and often measure land in ropani, the cheat sheet below converts the nutrient dose into bags you can actually purchase. It uses the standard conversion that one hectare equals 19.65 ropani. Round to whole bags and adjust down if you apply plenty of compost.

Transplanted lowland rice is traditionally kept under a shallow 2-5 cm film of standing water for most of the season, which suppresses weeds and stabilises temperature. Keep the field continuously moist through tillering, and never let it dry out during two critical, thirsty stages: panicle initiation and flowering. Drain the field about 7-10 days before harvest so the crop dries evenly and machines or sickles can work.

Where irrigation water is scarce, Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) can cut water use substantially without hurting yield: allow the water to recede below the surface, then re-flood when the soil is just short of saturation. AWD is the water principle behind SRI and is increasingly promoted for Nepal's canal and pump-irrigated systems.

Weeds compete hardest in the first six weeks. Two hand weedings (godai) - at about 20-25 and 40-45 days after transplanting - or a mechanical rotary weeder used down the planted rows will usually keep the crop clean. Line transplanting is what makes fast mechanical weeding possible, so the extra care at transplanting pays off again here.

Insect pests and diseases can take a large share of the Nepali rice crop if ignored. The most damaging insects are the yellow stem borer (whose larvae cause 'dead heart' in young plants and 'white head' empty panicles later), brown planthopper (BPH), rice gall midge, leaf folder and the ear-head bug. On the disease side, blast (maruwaa), bacterial leaf blight, sheath blight and brown spot are the main threats, all worsened by excess nitrogen and dense, poorly aired stands.

The first line of defence is prevention: grow resistant or tolerant varieties, use certified clean seed, keep balanced (not excessive) nitrogen, transplant on time at correct spacing, and remove stubble and weed hosts. Following Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - conserving natural predators and spraying only when pest numbers cross the economic threshold - protects both the crop and beneficial insects. Avoid routine broad-spectrum sprays, which flare BPH by killing its predators.

When chemical control is genuinely needed, choose the right product for the pest and rotate chemistry to slow resistance, following the label and local AKC guidance. As a general reference, targeted options include buprofezin or pymetrozine for planthoppers, and cartap/chlorantraniliprole-type products for stem borer; for blast, timely tricyclazole sprays at boot leaf and heading are commonly advised. Always confirm the currently registered, approved product with your local extension office before buying.

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a low-input, agronomy-based method that has shown strong results in Nepal since the early 2000s, documented by Cornell University's SRI-Rice programme and promoted through government and NGO programmes across dozens of districts. Rather than new seed or extra chemicals, SRI changes how you manage the plant, water and soil, so it suits smallholders looking to raise yield while cutting seed and water costs.

SRI rests on a few clear principles: transplant very young seedlings (about 8-12 days old), plant single seedlings per hill at wide spacing in a square grid (25 x 25 cm or wider), and handle roots carefully and quickly. Keep the soil moist but not continuously flooded (alternate wetting and drying), weed mechanically to aerate the soil, and feed the crop with plenty of organic matter. Together these give each plant room, light and air to produce far more tillers and stronger roots.

Early on-farm trials in Nepal reported yields well above the national average - for example Bardiya district plots in 2003 yielded around 4.4-4.9 t/ha against a national average near 2.5 t/ha at the time, and well-managed SRI plots have reached 7-9 t/ha. SRI does demand more skill, careful water control and timely weeding, and results vary with conditions, so many farmers adopt it in stages. Even partial adoption - younger seedlings, wider single planting and better water management - reliably lifts yields.