Lack of irrigation behind minimal spring paddy

Kathmandu: Sarlahi district has 691 hectares of land which can be cultivated for spring paddy (chaite dhan), but only 50 hectares of land is used for this crop in a year.

The sheer insufficiency of irrigation has led to the uselessness of the land. Although the Prime Minister’s Modernisation Project is in force to encourage farmers to grow spring paddy, the area for it has not increased at all.

Project chief senior agriculture officer Rambalam Prasad Saha said that the district is growing summer paddy in 45,950 hectares of land, producing around 167 thousand metric tons of rice in a year. The district having plain land is considered favourable for varieties of crops, but the farmers are not attracted to planting chaite dhan. The project has focused on some wards of Haripurwa municipality and Parsa rural municipality in the district for the cultivation of spring paddy.

The project introduced in 2073 BS was brought into execution in the district in the fiscal year 2077/78. The farmers have been provided with agricultural and irrigation tools along with training. However, the spring paddy is not grown even in the pocket area. Only 50 hectares of land from Ishworpur, Lalbandi, Barahathawa, Haripurwa, Godaita and Kavilashi are used for the spring paddy.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, the locals complained that they could cultivate the paddy, but there is an acute shortage of irrigation. A farmer from Sirsiya of Kabilashi municipality, Ramadhar Raya, said, ‘It is dry season. The paddy requires a regular water supply. There is no irrigation facility, hindering involvement in the cultivation of sprig rice.’

‘ Most of the farmers had used pump sets and electric motors to draw groundwater, which, however, did not last long said Raya. According to the agriculture officer, The spring paddy has less chance of disease and pests compared to the summer paddy.

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