11^th National Rice Day was celebrated onAsar 15 as of Nepalese date or 29^th June) all over Nepal with the theme of "Modernization in Rice Production, decreasing food import to make country self-sufficient". In the regional level, Youth Eco Network (YEN) also celebrated national rice day with financial assistance of Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) in Bijayanagar, Chitwan with agricultural students, agricultural authorities and farmers.

Importance of National rice day

Rice is the main cereal crop of Nepal with most of the people depending on it as a staple food. However, rice is not just important as food but it carries cultural, religious and traditional values in Nepalese society. It is used as tika (mixture of rice grains and curd put on forehand for blessings), sacred homage item, worshipping item, Prasad (eaten after worship) and also item for daan ( gift to pujaris/priests and saints). National rice day symbolizes all these values and also the fact that today is the most feasible day for transplanting rice.

An overview of the program

National Rice day was celebrated in different sessions.

1. Formal program with Cultural folk song

Formal program kicked off at around 7:30 in the morning. Important agricultural personnels including Plant Protection Officer joined us for the program. In the meantime, local women from Bijayanagar entertained us with Asare song. An Asare song is a native folk song of Nepal which is sung during rice plantation. It carries joy of life, laments on less rainfall, call for the loved ones etc.

2. Mass quiz contest

Mass quiz contest was conducted for the farmers. Questions related to agriculture and day to day life was asked and prize was distributed.

3.Mud Race

Rice needs stagnant water for transplantation. The water thus creates mud with soil in contact. The field is prepared 15 to 20 days before transplanting. We used this muddy field for racing competition. Many local farmers and students joined the race.

4.Tug of war

In this game, a rope is held by both the opponent teams. Both teams try to pull the opponent team inside their boundary and the team which does this is the winner. This was a lot of fun to see.

5. Dahi (Curd) and Chiura (Beaten rice) Eating program

The day of today is celebrated by eating dahi and chiura. This has been a tradition for years.

6. Prize distribution

The prizes to the winners of mud race and tug of war were distributed.

7. Interaction program

Finally the problems of farmers were presented and their solutions sought out.

 I hope you found it interesting. I still hope each year that we get to celebrate this day with less dismay from the farmer?s side and higher productivity and prosperity. The enthusiasm we created today might help the passion to carry on agriculture on the part of the farmers but then, in long run, easy access to seeds, agricultural subsidies, loans and crop insurance are the only way. Do you celebrate rice day in your parts of the world?