Farmers say that crops have begun to wither and fail to grow due to the lack of rain during the snowfall in the mountainous regions.
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Drought has started drying up winter crops in the hilly districts of the Far West, including Baitadi. Due to the lack of winter rain this year, crops including wheat, barley, lentils, mustard, and kerau have started drying up in the hilly districts.
There has been no winter rain this year even after the beginning of Magh. The winter crop has dried up due to the lack of rain, said Chintamani Bhatta, a farmer from Melauli Municipality-6. ‘Due to the long drought, the winter crop planted on the fallow land is drying up,’ he said. ‘When the planted crop dries up, the fields look barren.’
Farmers in most areas of Baitadi have been cultivating on fallow land. Due to the lack of irrigation facilities, many people rely on rainwater. Even in areas where irrigation has been achieved, the crops in the fields that are planted in the ditches have started drying up due to the lack of water in the rivers due to the drought, Bhatta said. Farmers are worried that production will decrease this year as the winter crop has started drying up.
Ramesh Sarki, a farmer from Pancheshwor-1, said that the crops have not been able to grow properly due to the lack of rain even during sowing. ‘Even the old crops would have grown well if it had rained,’ he said, ‘There has been no rain so far and it is not likely to rain anytime soon.’ He said that most of the winter crops that had grown have dried up due to the drought. Farmers say that the crops have started drying up due to the lack of rain even during the snowfall in the mountainous region.
Haridatta Joshi, head of the Agricultural Knowledge Center Baitadi, said that production in the district has started decreasing every year as wild animals damage the spring maize and the winter crops dry up due to drought.
25,700 hectares of land are cultivated in Baitadi. Of which only 10,900 hectares of the land is irrigated. According to the Agricultural Knowledge Center, wheat is cultivated on 15,400 hectares in the district, barley on 700 hectares, lentils on 300 hectares, mustard on 34 hectares, and kerau on 5 hectares of khatrafal.
