Due to seasonal changes and lack of manpower, the practice of growing traditional crops like gahat-masyang is disappearing in the Odare area of Ramechhap.
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Odare village in Manthali Municipality-7 was once considered the best place for producing rice in the district. Each family used to produce more than 10 bushels of rice per season. The main identity of this place was rice production.
After gahat, maize and masyang were the main crops. The gahat grown in Odare was regularly sold at the Monday market in Manthali and the Thursday market in Ramechhap Municipality. Locals say that nowadays they have to buy produce from outside even to eat at home.
According to locals, selling one muri gahat at the market could buy three more muri of rice. This allowed some families to have food for the whole year. Living was easy at that time with income from the sale of gahat and masyang.
'But now the situation in Odare village has completely changed,' says local Dhan Bahadur Majhi, 'Earlier, 10 muri gahat was grown even in the year when it did not produce, now not even 10 maana.'
He said that the practice of growing traditional crops like gahat and masyang is disappearing due to the change in the weather and lack of manpower. He said, 'Due to the dry, sloping land, the main crops in this place were gahat, masyang, sesame, etc. Now, those crops have also stopped being planted. Due to which the fields that were there are also barren.'
Another local, Harkamaya Majhi, said that due to the change in the timing of rainfall in the last year and the lack of workers, indigenous crops like phapar, bitter phapar, junelo, silam, gahat, sesame have completely disappeared. She said, 'Earlier, maize, masyang, gahat were the identity of this place. Now, those crops have even stopped sprouting.'
Locals say that indigenous crops have stopped being produced in most villages of Ramechhap due to the lack of workers, lack of rain when needed, and too much rain when the crops do not need it.'
Dhanmaya Shrestha of Puranagaun, Manthali Municipality-9, said that traditional crops like phapar, bitter phapar, junelo, silam, gahat and sesame are almost disappearing in the village fields. According to her, among pulses, crops like masyang, mas, soybean, gahat, beans and barley are on the verge of extinction. 'Earlier, gahat and masyang were the main crops after maize and millet,' Dhanmaya recalls, 'But now there is no manpower to cultivate the old crops. Even if you plant a lot, you don't even get paid if you don't grow well.'
