Mangre Yadav, a local farmer in Hirminya, Banke, has already harvested paddy this season and is preparing his land for winter crop — either lentil or potato. His neighbours, on the other hand, have paddy plants still standing in their fields.

The reason: Yadav, 28, had planted a new drought-tolerant variety of paddy this season — the DRR 44. The variety, which has gained immense popularity in India, will soon be released in Nepal.

Yadav himself was surprised at how quickly the paddy matured — in less than 120 days — compared to traditional varieties that take at least 135 days to mature, leaving less room for pests to cause crop losses.

“It’s different than what we had been growing in the past,” said Yadav, who owns 10 katthas of land near the Indian border in Nepalgunj, where hybrid paddy seeds have flourished unchecked. “The new variety can be grown with less water and requires less chemical fertiliser treatment. Moreover, it has improved yields.”

The DRR 44 has an average yield of 5-6 tonnes per hectare under a good irrigation condition. Even under extreme conditions, the output is at least 3 tonnes per hectare on an average. The plant grows up to 110cm tall.

Ram Narayan Tamauli of Dhodpur, Samserganj, is another farmer who has benefitted from improved rice varieties. In his rain-fed village, either flash floods or drought damage crops almost every year. 

But he now has an answer to such extreme conditions: The Ciherang Sub 1 — which is popular in Indonesia and Bangladesh. This variety can tolerate both drought and submergence stresses. The plant has the ability to re-grow even two weeks after submergence.

Tamauli, who owns 24 katthas of land, has also been growing two other varieties of paddy — Radha 4 and an "unnamed hybrid" imported from bordering Indian town of Rupaidiha. “As there were no better seeds, farmers are forced to plant hybrids to get better yield and good amount of straws,” he said. “The yield and straw of Ciherang has so far been good.”

While Ciherang and DRR 44 have become popular among farmers in Banke, another improved fine rice variety — Sawa Mahsuli Sub-1 — has been gaining popularity in Bardia.

Similar to Basmati rice, Sawa Mahsuli can also tolerate both drought and submergence stresses and matures within 130-135 days of plantation.

“Such climate-smart seeds are key to helping farmers survive weather shocks and improving food security,” said Bhava Prasad Tripathi, senior associate scientist of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)-Nepal. “These varieties are answer to the country’s unpredictable weather patterns.”

According to him, the government's technical committee has approved the Ciherang Sub-1 and it is in the process to be approved by a high-level steering committee within a month. This fiscal year, about 45 tonnes of Ciherang seeds were distributed for free to farmers.

A proposal to approve the DRR 44 is also in final stage. The Seed Quality Control Centre has already agreed to release the DRR 44 in Nepal.

These seeds are being provided to randomly-selected farmers in districts that are mainly rain-fed lowlands and prone to floods and droughts, under the USAID-funded "Accelerating the Adoption of Stress-Tolerant Rice Varieties by Smallholder Farmers in Nepal and Cambodia". 

The project, technically supported by the IRRI, is being run in 22 different districts. Last year, 252 tonnes of different improved paddy varieties were distributed to more than 50,000 farmers.

“Nepal is one of the highest rice consuming countries in the world. The per capita per year rice consumption in Nepal is 130 kg, which is extremely high,” said Abdelbagi M. Ismail, a visiting principal scientist from Manila-based IRRI. “This means Nepal needs to grow more rice as there are more people coming in.”

Having fertile land, beautiful sunshine and water potential, there is no need for Nepal to invest millions of dollars to import food, he said. “If not, the current import trend suggests Nepal is faster becoming a net food importing country.”

The government has already released six varieties of Sukhha Dhan climate-smart seeds. These varieties are developed by IRRI.

Among them, Sukhha Dhan 1, 2 and 3 were released in 2011, while Sukhha Dhan 4, 5 and 6 were released in 2014. 

The varieties are the results of efforts of IRRI and Nepal Agricultural Research Council (Narc). The project was undertaken under the support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.