Normally, farmers in the region end up sowing paddy by the first week of July. However, more than 60 per cent of arable land in the region had remained barren due to lack of rain. Farmers said continuous rain for the last four days had raised their hopes against imminent food shortage.
“Paddy plants were already one-and-a-half feet tall this time last year. Unfortunately, in the absence of irrigation facilities and below-average rain, we are planting old saplings this time round,” said Lok Bahadur BK, a farmer of Doti.
Farmers well understand that delayed plantation and the aging of saplings cut the yield. Still, they say, it is better to plant old saplings than not plant at all. “We deem ourselves fortunate that we at least got to cultivate our fields,” said Nar Bahadur Saud, another farmer. People in the region largely rely on rainfall to irrigate their land and plant crops.
Madan Raj Joshi, technician at the Regional Agricultural Directorate, Dipayal, told myrepublica.com that farmers in seven hilly and two Tarai districts in the region have planted paddy in their fields over the last four days.
The directorate estimates that if the farmers maintain the same momentum for the next few days, they will have finished paddy cultivation in the region. The office had reported that 75 per cent of the cultivable land was barren till a week ago.
Apart from paddy, farmers are also sowing soybeans. Farmers, who witnessed a massive damage of their winter crops, are fearful of the looming food shortage.
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