The technology problems are also different, since favored areas have gone through one round of productivity growth, and production from Green Revolution technologies has now, at best, plateaued. Comparative advantage has a seasonal dimension that technology development could help exploit. For most of the year, land and fresh water are in short supply, increasingly so, as urbanization and industrialization compete with agriculture for these scarce resources. In the monsoon season, however, which affects most of the subcontinent, water is abundant and there is little that can be grown on flooded and waterlogged land. Rice is one of the few crops that will thrive in such conditions, so in terms of land and water there is little opportunity cost in growing it.
Rice is also the preferred cereal for most people, so demand prospects are good.
This suggests that research and extension resources might usefully be concentrated on improving productivity of rice in the monsoon season and noncereal, high-value, irrigated crops in the dry season. Gerald J. Gill is currently senior policy adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture, His Majesty's Government of Nepal, in Kathmandu. The 2020 Briefs present information on various aspects of the issues.