BIRGUNJ Aug 13: Paddy transplantation has been completed in Parsa district.

Technicians of the District Agriculture Development Office (DAO) informed that transplantation of this staple crop completed on time this year due to sufficient rainfall as well as easy availability of seeds and workforce.

Paddy transplantation on rice fields that lack irrigation facility is done only after the field gets sufficient rainfall.

Though rainfall was insufficient in the main transplantation season, farmers said paddy transplantation gained pace only after mid-July when the district started getting sufficient rainfall.

“Paddy transplantation is now complete,” said Jitendra Giri, an agro technician at Parsa DADO.

According to statistics of DADO Parsa, paddy transplantation has now been completed in almost all paddy fields in the district. Paddy plantation is done in around 47,000 hectares of land in the district.

Only one-third of arable land in the district has irrigation facility. Eastern branch of Gandak Canal provides irrigation facilities to these areas. However, locals say that water supply through the canal has also fallen in recent years as nobody is looking after maintenance of the canal. In some places, people have built roads by demolishing canal or filling it up with mud. As a result, large swathes of arable land do not have irrigation facility, forcing farmers to rely on rainfall for their crop.

Due to urbanization and migration, rural areas of the district are facing shortage of manpower for farm works. To address the manpower crunch, the government has introduced a 'labor exchange program' in the district. Many farmers say they have benefited from the system as they did not face shortage of farm workers this season.

 
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