After two days of rain in drought-stricken Madhesh, planting has started in full swing. Due to lack of irrigation facilities, the farmers, who had left their fields barren for half of July, planted all day on Sunday. Some farmers are busy harvesting paddy for planting. The field where the paddy fields have been spread has started to fill with water.

Ram Ashish Yadav of Sirha Goalbazar Municipality-4 Nipane has been cultivating paddy on 4 bigha land. He planted paddy in one bigha on Sunday, having given up hope of planting due to lack of rain. "We could always plant in June, but this year it died when there was no chance of rain," he said. I will sow the remaining three bighas in a day or two.'

According to Krishi Gyan Kendra Siraha, only 50 percent of the 54,000 hectares of rice cultivation in the district had been planted till Friday. Narendra Kumar Mahaseth, Head of Knowledge Center, said that this rain will reach 80 percent.

Similarly, the unit council of Dhanusha Hanspur municipality-9 was able to plant one bigha in the field within two days. "The seeds were ready but there was concern that they would be barren because of the lack of water," he said. He said that there is always a problem for planting due to lack of irrigation facilities.

The farmers of Saptari are also eager to plant paddy. Although it has been raining sporadically for a week, they were worried about the lack of water in the fields. After it rained all night on Saturday, they are planting by adding water from electric motors and pumping sets. 60-year-old Misrilal Yadav of Rajviraj Municipality-15 Bharuwa said, "Even though it rained all night, there was not enough water to plant. Even though the night rain was a relief for the rice that had been planted, the barren fields were not filled with water."

The farmers of Rajviraj-1 Farsaith have a problem of drawing water from the Koshi pump canal with a motor. Since the rains have started, they have been adding water to the fields by drawing it from the canal. Even though the canal is full of water, the water does not reach the upper level fields on the north side . Some farmers have planted by connecting the motor from the canal since Saturday . Some farmers are putting tripal in the field and getting involved in planting .

'When the planting time was about to pass, we electrified it here this year,' said 48-year-old Shyam Kumar Yadav, 'everyone is adding water to the field by installing 6/7 motors, but now there is a problem due to lack of voltage.'

In some places in the western part of the district, there is a shortage of laborers to plant rice. "We prepared the field by ploughing, but it is difficult to find labourers," said 37-year-old Ajay Kumar Yadav of Balan Bihul Rural Municipality-4 Lava toll, "All the farmers here cultivate during the rains, it is not easy to find laborers when it rains and everyone is busy with planting". In Saptari, which has a total of 81 thousand 678 hectares of arable land, paddy is being cultivated in 78 thousand hectares. Last year, by this period, about 85 percent planting was done.

Rain in Madhesh: Farmers are busy planting

 

Similarly, out of 46,000 hectares of paddy cultivation in Bara, only 85 percent have been planted, said Rajnarayan Sah, head of Krishi Gyan Kendra Bara. "This much planting has been done by pulling water through motor and pumpset," he said, "water has accumulated under the roots in the fields where the fields have been torn by two days of rain. The land of dry fields remaining planted is only slightly wet . There is still not enough water for planting. He said that many wards of Simraungadh, Pacharuta, Suvarna, Devtal, Kalaiya, Feta, Vishrampur have not been planted yet.

13 milliliters of rain has been recorded on Sunday in the rain gauge of Ranighat Agricultural Tools Research Center located in Birgunj. Sachin Kumar Mishra, head of the center informed that there was a record rainfall on Saturday. Asarfi Sah, the former president of Kisan Sangh Parsa, says that if it rains regularly for a few days, the drought will end and planting will be done .

The head of Krishi Gyan Kendra Parsa, Ramjeevan Thakur, said that if there is continuous rain for four/five days and only one day of heavy rain, both the problem of planting and drought will be solved . He told that although the farmers who have already planted are relieved by the continued normal rains, there is not enough in the remaining fields for planting. 85 percent planting has been done in Parsa till Friday. He said that some farmers in Birganj Mahanagar, Bindwasini Rural Municipality, Bahudarmai Municipality, Chhipharmai Rural Municipality were not able to plant.