Considered to be the granary of Nepal, Jhapa saw plantation during the first few weeks of monsoon. But the drought that followed since is yet to break its spell. Cracks have appeared on paddy farms, planted some weeks before while the monsoon was in full swing. Contrary to the green paddy fields, that are expected to be seen around this time of the year, paddy seed sapling beds are turning yellow.The district has around 88,000 hectors of arable land of which 38,000 hectors has irrigation facilities. The remaining major portion relies on rainfall and tube wells. Farms that solely depend on rainfall have fallen prey to the drought. "We have ploughed the fields for planting paddy. But in lack of rain, plantation has been held back," said Ghanlal Rajbanshi, a farmer from Khajurgachi-6.
Rajbanshi who has been growing crops in his two acre farm said that many villagers will be carrying financial burdens this year if the drought persisted. "Agriculture is the only source of our income and as we have not been able to plant till now, it will be difficult for many of us to make our ends meet."
Since the past one and half week Jhapa has not received rainfall. The Meteorological Centre at Kankai Irrigation Project recorded 97 ml rainfall in the area on June 23 and 81.4 ml on July 15 and scanty rainfall of 7.14 ml on July 23. "Since then there has been significant rainfall that would suffice for paddy plantation," Bhanubhakta Subedi, an officer at the centre, informed.
Apart from the woes that farmers are facing, residents in the region are facing hard time as temperature in the region is escalating day to day. The Meteorological Centre in the district claimed that the maximum temperature in the region fluctuated between 37 to 38 degrees Celsius between Monday and Wednesday. "This rise in temperature has severely affected agriculture sector. Crops are being destroyed by the drought in areas that lack irrigation facilities and solely depend on rainfall," Subedi said. "Farms that were planted during the monsoon are not showing growth and some are even gradually turning yellow."
Hundreds of farmers from southern Jhapa, who depend solely on rainfall, are giving up hope of harvesting anything this year. "We haven't planted anything because of the drought. Since we don't have any other income sources, how are we going to support our families this year," Dayalu Rajbanshi, a farmer from Gajurgachi-1, asked.
Some of the farmers in their frantic efforts even hired pumps for drawing water from boring-wells. But due to higher investment cost in doing so, they were forced to drop the option.
Some of the farmers, who battled against the drought by using such boring-wells, are being defeated cruelly by nature. Ganga Rajbanshi, a farmer from Gauriganj, had hired water pumps and planted paddy in hi 0.8 acre farm. His family was happy after planting the paddy. But the happiness, since then, has been withering away with every passing day. Because of the continuous draught since then, the saplings are gradually withering away, as he cannot afford to invest in hiring pumps to keep the land irrigated. "We fetched water from boring-wells in the initial 15 days. But we could not afford to continue doing so. For how many days can we keep fetching water from boring-wells? The paddy is gradually turning yellow, and there isn't anything we could do," he said.
Drought coupled with soaring temperature has left farmlands in the southern region of the district with extensive cracks and fissures. Due to lack any alternative irrigation facility, some farmers have not even sowed paddy seeds in the seed bed, even though the season for plantation is around. This has forced the locals to look out for alternatives to paddy plantation this year. "It is time that we give up on paddy plantation and rather focus our efforts on figuring out alternatives" said Narendra Kumar Dangi, a farmer from Maharanijhoda.
Shalikram Bhattarai, technician at the District Agriculture Development Office informed that the government has brought aid programs that aim to encourage farmers, but added that management of reliable water source is yet to be done.
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