A thick layer of sand deposited during the flood has also become a major obstacle for rehabilitation and relief works in affected areas.
A huge amount of the government’s money intended for rehabilitation and relief works will be spent removing the ‘mountain’ of sand.
Of the total Rs 140 million budget sanctioned for flood victims this year, Rs 120 million has been set aside for clearing sand piles in an attempt to transform devastated areas back into cultivable land.
“We can do nothing to improve the flooded land without clearing off the sand covering the once fertile land. It is going to be very tedious and costly as the sand deposit is deeper than 10 feet in some places,” Hem Raj Regmi, under secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC) told myrepublica.com. “We will give priority in first phase to remove the sand layer which is less than one foot.”
He informed that over 2,400 hectors of land in Sunsari and Siraha districts, flashpoints of the Koshi flood, are covered, leaving a large patch of land not able to be cultivated for the last six months.
Tapas Thapa
“We need at least three years to remove the sand to reclaim the devastated land for agriculture purpose,” added Regmi, also monitoring relief works for affected farmers.
So far, the government has released Rs 50 million for rehabilitation and relief works in Koshi-affected areas. “Of this, we are spending Rs 28.5 million to clear the sand in the first phase,” he said.
The government is planning to develop affected areas as a ‘model agriculture service center’, with modern agriculture and livestock-related services for local farmers.
According to Regmi, the government will spend Rs 8 million each for agriculture and live stock improvement programs this year. The programs will include distributing seeds of different crops suitable to the affected areas, as well as distributing banana and sugarcane seedlings to farmers.
“We are focusing on developing the crops which are suitable in the areas covered with sand,” he said.In a bid to speed relief works up, the government has already set up a mission in Biratnagar, known as Saptakoshi Flood Victims Rehabilitation Agriculture and Livestock Office, headed by Shyam K. Shah, chief of the Eastern Regional Agriculture Directorate.
The Koshi embankment breach in September last year has caused a loss of more than Rs 580 million in agriculture and livestock in Eastern Nepal’s Sunsari and Saptari districts.
The flood rendered more than 5,000 families homeless, and converted 50,000 hectors of fertile land into mere sand piles. Some 14,000 head of cattle died as a result of flooding and subsequent spread of diseases.
