By Our Correspondent
Beni, May 27: Paddy plantation has started in Beni Municipality-4 and Arjkhola area of ​​Mangala Rural Municipality-3 in the Himalayan district of Myagdi.
Like other regions of the country, the coronavirus pandemic has not spared the district, where both the positivity rate and the resulting fatalities are high.
Nonetheless, the farmers in the rural areas are planting the paddy by adopting health safety protocols, and the farmers in the Arjekhola area are no exception. They are moving ahead with the plantation despite the prohibitory order imposed by the district’s COVID-19 Crisis Management Center which has been in place since May 3.
Paddy is mostly planted in the area around Arjekhola of Mangala Rural Municipality and Beni Municipality from mid-May to late May.
Lokesh Pun of Beni Municipality-4, Kalankur, said that the paddy plantation has not stopped even though the rural areas are deserted due to the restrictions.
Although, the Magar community of Baranja area used to complete the plantation before the Dhule, a festival celebrated on the third Thursday of the Nepali month of Jestha, Pun said that the plantation had been delayed this year due to the pandemic.
Gyan Raj Koirala, chief of the Agricultural Knowledge Center, Myagdi, said that the farmers of Arjekhola area will mainly plant local varieties of rice, including Gauriya, Gudura, Jaudhan, Jethobudho and Takmare.
According to Koirala, paddy plantation in the area has been delayed this year unlike in the past.
In the rural areas of the district, including Arjekhla, the use of hand tractors has been on the rise in recent times. The water in Arjekhola is available throughout the year, so the farmers don’t have to rely much on the monsoon.