Continuous unseasonal rains have caused major damage to the rice crops of farmers in Ramechhap. The farmers are worried that the hard work they have done for the past six months will be wasted due to the rains that have been falling since last Wednesday.

This year, paddy had started ripening in Ramechhap since the first week of Kartik. Some farmers had already brought in their paddy before Tihar, while many farmers were preparing to bring it in after Tihar. However, the weather suddenly deteriorated from Monday. Many farmers thought it was normal and prepared to harvest paddy in a hurry and dry it with the husk, but it started raining again from Wednesday.

According to Gopal Majhi of Kunauri, Manthali Municipality-6, this year, the paddy had grown well in the fields. But the unseasonal rain that came just at the time of storage has ruined all the hard work. He said, 'This year, good paddy had grown in the Bokse Phat and Bagar Phat of Kunauri. The farmers of Bokse Phat had already stored the paddy, but the paddy harvested in the Bagar Phat has been completely submerged in the rain that has been falling since the next day.'

Farmers in Ramechhap have been forced to face huge losses due to the unseasonal rains that have been falling for the past four days, said Suraj Shrestha, a farmer from Manthali Municipality-7. According to him, the harvested and dried paddy has now reached a state of being submerged in water and starting to sprout.

Shrestha said, 'We had not even imagined that it would rain like this at this time. But the rain that started suddenly has been falling continuously for the past four days. It has caused great damage to this year's main crop, paddy.'

According to him, all the paddy that was cut and kept for drying in the fields before the rains started has been submerged in water, while a large amount of the paddy remaining in the fields has also fallen.

He said that farmers who were hoping for a better paddy production this year compared to last year are now disappointed.

Yovan Kumar Sunuwar, an assistant agricultural economist at the Agricultural Development Sub-Branch of Manthali Municipality, said that the current unseasonal rains have created problems for farmers who are in a hurry to import their main crop, paddy.

According to him, farmers were busy importing paddy immediately after Tihar. 'Some farmers had imported paddy before Tihar. But the sudden change in weather during import has affected the farmers,' he said.

According to Sunuwar, this weather forecast was made a few days ago. 'Farmers who regularly follow weather information have been able to save their paddy,' he added, 'But the paddy of farmers who did not get the information has been damaged by this unseasonal rain.'