Even as the third week of Asad is approaching, 60 percent of Palpa's fields are barren. Rice has not been able to be sown in the fields due to lack of rain, lack of irrigation facilities, and lack of water sources in the rivers.

There is a compulsion to sow the fields by covering the fields with the rain that falls at night. Ramesh Ranabhat, a farmer from Hungi, Rambha Rural Municipality-1, said that due to lack of water, the fields have not been able to be sown due to lack of irrigation. 'The rivers and canals have dried up due to lack of rain,' he said, 'The roots have dried up. It has not been possible to sow the fields on time.'

Farmers who have been facing irrigation problems have complained that they have to face additional problems due to lack of timely rain. Most of Palpa's land is sown with only rain. According to the Lumbini Province Agriculture Development Directorate, annual rice cultivation is carried out on an area of ​​7,287 hectares in Palpa. 

So far, only 2,951 hectares have been sown. This data confirms that only 40 percent of the sowing has been completed. Crop Protection Director Kamna Adhikari informed that 37.33 percent of the sowing has been done in 12 districts of Lumbini Province by the third week of Ashad. The highest sowing in the province has been done in Nawalparasi in the Terai with 70 percent and in Pyuthan under the hilly district with 90 percent. 

In Palpa, the Rampur Municipality area, the Kaligandaki coastal area, Argali, Kachal, Madiphant, Jhadeva, Dobhan, Purbakhola, Arunkhola and other places are the fields where paddy is cultivated. 60 percent of the fields in the paddy cultivation area do not have irrigation facilities from rivers and streams. Another farmer from Rambha Rural Municipality-1, Khemraj Ranabhat, said that if there is no timely rain in the settlements above the river banks, where paddy is cultivated with rainwater, the fields cannot be sown. 

This year too, if there is no rain on time, paddy can be planted only in Shrawan, he said. But more than 200 million rupees are invested in the irrigation sector every year across the district. Farmers are always in trouble because of its failure to be properly utilized, said Deepak Dhungana, a farmer from Baganaskali Rural Municipality-1. 

Farmers are not able to plant grain in their storage and fields even after the second week of Ashar. He said that they are in trouble because there is no rain from the sky and there is no irrigation canal. Even if there are streams and rivers flowing in the lower part of the fields, there is no irrigation facility. Farmers complain that paddy production is not good due to delayed planting. Krishna Malla, a farmer from Rampur Municipality-8, said that she has been forced to plant by covering them with rain and good water.

If there is no rain even after planting paddy, the planted fields will be destroyed. There is no one to speak in favor of farmers with abandoned fields. Farmers complain that irrigation schemes are falling into the hands of the poor. ‘Even the canals built many years ago are now dilapidated,’ she said, ‘Despite appealing for repairs, we have not been able to get sufficient budget.’

The Water Resources and Irrigation Development Division Office, Agricultural Knowledge Center, local levels, and the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernization Project spend at least 250 million rupees more annually on small and large-scale irrigation. But every year, farmers are forced to cultivate by looking at the clouds in the sky during the rainy season. If the scheme is based on accessibility for farmers, the work cannot be completed. Even though some fields near the waterlogging areas are planted, many fields that receive water from rivers and streams are forced to remain fallow until there is no rain, said Kes Bahadur Rana, a farmer from Rampur Municipality-6.