In the field of Krishna Shahi Thakuri of Palpa's Rampur Municipality-8, Bhujat, the corn has ripened and even the plants have dried up. Akasha has kept paddy fields full of water, but he lacks water to plant the fields.
"I am making ali kuna with a little water brought from the river, the spring from Kholsi," Thakuri, who was found while applying ali in the field, said, "If we believe the news in the media, let's put the bad soon." Now Bad is old, it doesn't rain.'
After it rains from the sky, she said that she did not stop wearing ali even in the hot sun so that it would be easy to wear the tector. She said that the media had informed that there would be more than average rainfall this year, so that paddy could be planted soon, so the paddy was planted early.
Thakuri, who was worried about not being able to plant rice on time due to insufficient rain from the sky, remembered that in the past it was possible to plant within the middle of June, this time she expressed her concern that the field could not be planted when June was about to pass. The farm of Chandraraj Gautam of Rampur Municipality-7 has been completed.
Even the mud that is used for fertilizer has grown up and grown old. But Gautam is worried about not being able to install tractors on the farm. "There are normal canals for irrigation, but there is no water in the rivers and canals," he said. This time, there is no water in Kholsa, the river.'
Not only Thakuri and Gautam, thousands of paddy-producing fields including Hungi, Gejha, Bhujat, Rampur, Darcha, Galdha, Gadankot, Arunkhola, Lamdikhola in the eastern part of the district have not been planted on time.
The maize in most of the farmers' fields has ripened. The manure that is used as fertilizer is getting old. But there is a lack of water to cultivate the fields. The seeds have been scattered in the paddy fields when there is no rain from the sky, so that the abundant fields that are kept in corners are filled with manure.
'Government support for irrigation is low,' said Gautam of Rampur, 'Canal irrigation also cannot run on time. Maintenance cannot be good due to lack of budget. There is more problem if there is no rain from the sky for the areas without canals.
Due to lack of rain from the sky, 45 percent of the fields in Palpa have not been able to plant paddy even after the last week of June. Rampur municipality agriculture branch chief Narayan Gayre said that only 25 percent of rice has been planted in Rampur municipality area. He said that due to the lack of irrigation canals, the lack of water sources in rivers and streams, the planting of fields was delayed.
"Since there is no water in the canals, rivers, and ditches, they have not been able to plant the fields," he said, "Due to the rains during the onset of the monsoon, there has been an additional problem when there is no water at the time of planting even though the paddy beds have been kept." Khadgsingh Gaha of Nisdi Rural Municipality-4, Mityal said, "Even the big river has not yet grown. That is why some have planted gentian fields. Some have kept it in a corner.'
Farmers are forced to suffer like this every year due to lack of rain from the sky and lack of government support in irrigation projects. Even the water from the river and the creek was lifted and taken for drinking. Hum Bahadur Gaha of Rampur Municipality-10, Gejha said that every year the problem is increasing for the farmers due to insufficient rain falling from the sky even during the rainy season.
'Farmers are always in pain because of lack of investment in irrigation canals,' he said, 'so they have to wait to see when the rain will fall and plant crops.' Some canals and canals are getting old and dilapidated. Farmers of Palpa have not been able to plant paddy on time due to having to wait for rain.
Last year there was enough rain from the first week of June. At this time last year, 72 percent more planting was done. This year, only 52 percent of planting has been done so far, according to Krishi Gyan Kendra, Palpa.
Knowledge center head Arvindamani Tripathi said that planting was delayed due to insufficient rain in all places of the district. Although there was normal rain in the third week of May, after that, it did not rain so that the rivers and lakes grew. Planting has been delayed due to drying of roots. He said that although the farmers are ready to plant, there is a problem due to lack of water.
'Since irrigation infrastructure cannot be built in most places, we have to rely on sky water for planting,' he said, 'Even if the Agricultural Knowledge Center conducts small irrigation schemes with a low budget, it is not enough. Therefore, the farmers have a problem for irrigation. Sufficient planting has been done in the fertile Madi and Jhadeva for rice production. But the planted paddy has become dry due to lack of rain. According to Krishi Gyan Kendra, all the plants that have been planted have been made possible by covering the wells with water.
Out of the total cultivable 57 thousand 172 hectares, rice has been cultivated in 8 thousand 210 hectares. Only 35 percent of rice cultivation has irrigation facilities.
