May 8: A recent study has shown that only 30 percent of arable land has been irrigated in Nepal. The information was shared at a press conference organized by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council in Kathmandu on Saturday on the occasion of its 31st anniversary.

Executive director of the council Dr Deepak Bhandari said that it is not easy to produce food grains due to lack of irrigation facility. He urged the concerned authorities not to delay in making proper arrangements for irrigation, fertilizer and technology to increase the production of paddy, wheat and maize in the country.

Executive Director Bhandari also recalled that the budget allocated for irrigation was spent on the construction of embankment due to which it was not possible to arrange irrigation in the cultivable land.

The research council claimed it has so far developed 723 varieties of 80 different crops which have been made available for the farmers. Similarly, digital mapping of soil has been made public and a proposal has been put forward to introduce technology to store oranges and lemons in cold storage for three months, said Bhandari.