The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, in its preliminary report, stated that recent floods and landslides caused damages to more than 16,240 hectares of land. The report stated that most of the fields have been inundated and crops ready for harvest have swept away by floods in Kailali, Dadeldhura, Darchula, Doti, Baitadi, Banke, Bardiya and Dang districts. Likewise, a total of 200 cowsheds and 7.5 hectares of fodder field have been damaged. The floods also swept away 198 cattle in different districts.“
"Damages caused by the foods and landslide are expected to rise as reports of loss in livestock have yet to come from four of the flood-hit eight districts. We are assessing the loss through our District Agriculture Development Offices in concerned districts," Hem Raj Regmi, under-secretary at the MoAC, told myrepublica.com on Wednesday.
The unexpected downpour from October 3 to October 7 hardly hit Kailali district that alone saw its 10,940 hectares of cultivable land inundated. Banke district was the second worst affected district with over 2,200 hectares of cultivated land, including a large swath of paddy fields, covered by thick layer of sand carried by floods. The floods damaged 116 cowsheds, swept away over 7.5 hectares of fodder fields and killed as many as 83 goats in the district.
The floods triggered by torrential rains inundated 200 hectares of cultivated land in Bardiya. According to the ministry, the floods damaged 84 cowsheds besides killing 75 goats, 36 pigs and 747 fowls in the district. Total loss of livestock due to floods has been estimated at Rs 580,000. Dang, the least affected among the flood-hit districts, saw its three hectares of land eroded by rain-swelled rivers.
Likewise, floods destroyed crops in 2,000 and 628 hectares of land in Dadeldhura and Darchula district respectively. The floods also wreaked havoc in Doti and Darchula districts. Incessant rainfalls and floods damaged 250 hectares of land in Doti and 20 hectares in Baitadi.
Regmi said the MoAC would announce special relief package to raise production and productivity of winter crops besides launching livestock and dairy production as mid-term alternative income generation programs to the affected families.
Similarly, the Ministry of Irrigation (MoI) stated that foods and landslides have caused erosion in 212 places in 14 districts of mid and far-western regions. The ministry has estimated about Rs 858 million might be required to carry out repair works. A total of 195 irrigation projects in 20 districts have been damaged and the ministry has put the repair cost of 82 projects at Rs 137 million. The ministry is assessing the cost for the repair of remaining 113 projects.
According to the MoI, the floods and landslides damaged irrigation projects in Bajhang, Dadeldhura, Baitadi, Doti, Achham, Bajura, Kailali and Kanchanpur of far-western region and Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Surkhet, Kalikot, Dailekh, Jumla, Mugu, Dolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot and Salyan in the mid-western development region.
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