Gopal Sharmale, head of the Babai Irrigation Project, said that since the water from Babai is not sufficient for irrigation, they are forced to rely on rainwater.
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This year, only 18 percent of paddy planting has been completed in Bardiya due to the lack of monsoon rains even till mid-Ashar. The planting was also done in Rajapur Municipality and Geruwa Rural Municipality in the Karnali River irrigation area, according to the Integrated Agriculture and Livestock Development Office, Bardiya.
Firtuman Chaudhary, Information Officer of the Integrated Agriculture and Livestock Development Office, Bardiya, said that planting has not been done in six municipalities except for some places in Thakurbaba Municipality of Bardiya.
While preparations are being made for the Paddy Day and Planting Festival on Ashar with the slogan 'Climate-Friendly Technology, Self-Reliance in Paddy and Prosperity', about 82 percent of the paddy fields in Bardiya are barren.
Due to the lack of rain, the land in the eastern part of the district has dried up and water has stopped coming from hand pumps. Himalaya Tripathi, Chairman of Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality, said that planting has not been possible due to lack of irrigation due to lack of rain for a long time and low water in rivers including Babai.
Three weeks ago, water was coming from a hand pump 40 to 50 feet below the ground, but now it is not coming even after digging 110 feet deep,' said Tripathi, 'Due to lack of water, it has not been possible to plant crops due to lack of irrigation.'
Locals said that even drinking water taps have dried up in the northern area of Basgadhi Municipality and Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality. 'It is a distant dream to plant rice beds, it has been two weeks since water stopped coming from the hand pump,' complained Bhuvaneshwar Tharu, a farmer from Badhaiyatal-4, 'We have not been able to plant rice beds since water stopped coming from the pump.'
Mayor Khadga Bahadur Khadka said that planting has not been possible in Basgadhi due to a long drought. 'Locals are facing water problems as the hand pump has dried up,' he said, 'Especially in Wards 2 and 4 of the municipality, it has been two weeks since water stopped coming from the hand pump.'
The water level in the Babai River, which flows solely on rainwater, has also decreased significantly. The eastern and western main canals have dried up due to lack of water. ‘There should be at least 40 cumex per second of water for adequate irrigation in Babai, where water flowed at 4 cumex per second till Ashar 12,’ said Gopal Sharmale, head of Babai Irrigation Project. ‘Since the water from Babai is not sufficient for irrigation, we are forced to rely on rainwater.’
He said that adequate irrigation cannot be done until the construction of the Bheri-Babai river diversion is completed. Information Officer of the Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project, Hari Bahadur Thapa, said that the work will be completed within two years if the budget is received.
Saying that the drought has also started drying up the paddy fields in the western part of the district, Information Officer Chaudhary said that if the paddy fields are planted after 28 days of planting, the yield will decrease. ‘If this situation continues, the production of paddy will decrease by 15 to 20 percent,’ he said.
