Nepal : Drought worries Soru farmers as paddy planting is delayed
A prolonged drought in Nepal’s Soru Rural Municipality has delayed paddy transplantation and damaged finger millet, maize, wheat and barley crops. With only 13 hectares irrigated out of 96 cultivable hectares, farmers fear significantly lower food and paddy production unless rainfall improves soon.
A prolonged dry spell in Soru Rural Municipality in western Mugu has left farmers worried as crops have started to wither and paddy plantation has been delayed due to the lack of rainfall.
Farmers said finger millet, upland paddy, wheat and barley have been severely affected after months of below-normal rainfall. Maiyanani Nepali of Soru Rural Municipality-4 said finger millet and upland paddy planted on rain-fed farmland had begun to dry up.
“Even in the middle of the monsoon, the days are hot and the skies remain clear at night. With no rain, our major crops, including finger millet, maize and paddy, have dried up,” she said.
Sarita Malla of Soru Rural Municipality-5 said the area had not received sufficient rainfall since last October, causing winter crops such as wheat and barley to fail. She said fields that should have been green at this time of the year have turned dry. Local farmers said the prolonged drought has stunted the growth of finger millet, maize and upland paddy, raising fears of lower food production this year.
According to the Agriculture Development Office, only 13 hectares of the district’s 96 hectares of cultivable land have irrigation facilities. As most farmland depends on rainfall, prolonged dry conditions have had a direct impact on agricultural production.
Meanwhile, farmers in Kalai village of Soru Rural Municipality-9 have yet to begin paddy transplantation because of insufficient rainfall. Bhagarinath Yogi, a local resident, said irrigation has become impossible as natural water sources have started drying up.
Another local resident, Agamnath Yogi, said paddy transplantation was usually completed by mid-May in previous years, but this year it had not even begun by the end of June.
“Our farming depends entirely on rainfall. The prolonged drought is likely to reduce paddy production this year,” he said. Farmer Rammaya Chaulagai of Kalai village said paddy transplantation could not begin because of the drought and the lack of irrigation.
“By this time last year, more than half of the transplantation had been completed. This year, we have not even started. The fields have dried up in the heat, and even if it rains now, the ideal planting time is gradually passing,” she said. Farmers also complained that paddy seedlings raised in nursery beds are becoming overgrown because they cannot be transplanted on time. Local residents fear that unless adequate rainfall arrives soon, paddy production in Soru Rural Municipality will decline significantly this year.
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Source : The Rising Nepal
