Due to the long dry spell, the district´s most of the farmlands, once productive lay barren and in the areas where rice was recently transplanted, the saplings have started to die. Bauku Sutihar, a farmer of Tilathi VDC-7 said that recently transplanted rice saplings in his field are dying in the lack of rain.[break]
The main rice transplanting season is about to pass but only 20 percent of the farmlands in the district have completed transplantation while 80 percent are still awaiting rains, agriculture officials said.
According to Anup Lal Sah, the chief of the District Agriculture Office (DAO), Saptari, farmlands in the south, south-east and western parts of the district remain parched. According to the DAO more than 75 percent people in the district are dependent on agriculture. Farmers including Bishweshwar Yadav, the chairman of the farmers´ association said have demanded that the Saptari should be declared drought-hit district and the government should provide relief.
The DAO said 63.63 percent area (81,668 hectares) of the district has been used for cultivation and 72,483 hectares is appropriate for rice cultivation.
Water levels low in canals
Among three irrigation systems in the district, Chandra Nahar (canal), which has the capacity to irrigate 10,500 hectares of land is also dependent on monsoon rains. Now in the lack of monsoon rains, even the canal does not have enough water, Ramesh Chandra Chaudhary, an engineer at the canal division office, said. Likewise, enough water has not been released in the canal to the west of Koshi River. India regulates the water of the river. This canal has the capacity to irrigate 11,300 hectares of land.
Similarly, another canal, the Koshi Pump canal, which had the capacity to irrigate 13,100 hectares of land, is in dilapidated state, so it is able to irrigate only around 9,000 hectares. The canal is fed by groundwater pumped by electric motors has not been able to function in full scale due to power cuts, engineer Chaudhary said.
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