Last year flooding in the Koshi River on October 2 inundated cultivated fields stretching over 600 bigahas owned by 7,600 farmers in West Kusaha, Loukahi, Shripur and Hariharpur VDCs in Sunsari.
The government is distributing compensation to the victimized farmers who have been categorized into four groups -- Mainstream, Red, Yellow and Green -- according to the nature of the land swept away by the flood, from Wednesday.
Local Development Officer (LDO) of Sunsari Guru Prasad Subedi said the farmers abstained from cultivation in the areas because they feared they would not be compensated if the flood damaged the corps this year also.
"Cultivating the Green and Yellow areas would have been useful," he said. The local administration had even provided the farmers with seeds of cash corps to promote cultivation.
The government is going to give away Rs 250,000 per bigaha to the farmers belonging to mainstream areas and Rs 200,000 for each bigaha of Red areas.
Similarly, the sum going for each bigaha of Yellow areas is Rs 150,000 and that for Green areas is Rs 50,000.
LDO Subedi said the farmers were taken to observe farming in the areas eroded by Kamala River, yet they did not react positively.
Sunil Kumar Singh, soil specialist of District Agriculture Office Sunsari opines that the eroded areas on the banks of Koshi have less portion of sand and hence could be cultivated. The areas are considered suitable for paddy, wheat, maize and vegetables.
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