Paddy Day, celebrated every year on Asad 15, is being celebrated today by working in the fields and eating Dahi Chiura.

Farmers who are tired from the hustle and bustle of work eat Dahi Chiura to gain strength. It is believed that at this time, Dahi Chiura cools the body and stores strength. Asard 15 is also considered as the festival of eating Dahi Chiura in Nepali society.

Nepalis engaged in professions and businesses other than farming also celebrate Asad 15 by eating curd and curd.

Curd holds an important place in our culture. Before leaving home for auspicious work, going abroad, etc., there is a tradition of applying red tika to the forehead by rubbing curd on it. Before leaving for such auspicious work, curd is also served as a farewell as a sign of good luck. It is believed that if you eat curd before leaving, you will be blessed with good luck.

As farmers have started earning more from hybrid rice on less land, it has become difficult to protect indigenous rice. Farmers in Dang have been planting indigenous rice varieties such as simtharo, anadi and tilki only for household consumption. Although the provincial and local levels have introduced policies and programmes to protect indigenous rice, no results have been seen.

Farmers have been planting hybrid rice due to low yield of indigenous rice.

Toyaram Basnet of Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City-19 said that he used to plant tilki, simtharo, jhinuwa and anadi rice in the past.

He said that he started planting hybrid rice as the productivity of local varieties of paddy seed was low as the number of families increased.

However, Ganyari Agricultural Cooperative, located in Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City-18 has been cultivating local variety of paddy- tilki- taking land in lease.

Chairman of Ganyari Agricultural Cooperative Laxmi Chaudhary said that it has been producing 55 quintals of rice annually.

She said that although the market price of tilki rice is Rs. 18,000 per quintal, it has been selling it for Rs. 16,000 per quintal through the cooperative.

Information Officer and Agricultural Economics Expert at the Agricultural Knowledge Centre, Prithviraj Lamichhane said that although land for rent and seeds were arranged for farmers in the past to promote indigenous rice, there is no programme this year.

Yogurt is also considered to be a health booster from a scientific perspective. It is said that Guru Gorakhnath predicted that the unifier of Nepal, His Majesty King Prithvi Narayan Shah, would become powerful by feeding him yogurt.

In Ayurveda, it is said that if you drink mohi made by mixing curd at the end of a meal, you will not have to go to a health worker for medical treatment. Ayurveda also mentions a sentence like ‘Bhojanante pibet takram vaidyasya kin prajayam’. Curd also increases digestion.

Therefore, the tradition of eating dahi chiura has taken a widespread form in Nepali culture. Thus, Asad 15 has succeeded in becoming a national cultural festival in Nepali society.

National Rice Day was celebrated from Ashar 15, 2062 BS, following a ministerial decision on Mangsir 29, 2061 BS. Being an agricultural country, the occupation of most people in Nepal is farming.Prime Minister Oli meets with Tanzanian Vice President Philip