Narainapur faces food shortage due to crop damage

By Siraj Khan

Nepalgunj, Oct. 19: Ishrafil Khan, a farmer from Ward No. 4 of Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke district, used to produce at least 60 quintals of paddy annually. However, he doesn’t have even a kilo of paddy at his home this year.

Khan used to store required quantity of rice needed for his family to survive throughout the year and sold the remaining. “This year, I am worried regarding how to feed my family,” Khan said.

According to the locals of Narainapur, agricultural production in the area was completely affected last year as well.

“Last year, paddies cultivated in 22 bighas of my land were destroyed by excessive rain. This year, I could only plant paddy in two bighas of land due to drought,” said Sharif Khan, another farmer from Ward No. 4.

Nevertheless, the paddies planted by Sharif in two bighas of land this year were also destroyed as the field was inundated due to heavy rain. “Not even a single grain was produced this year. It is starting to get difficult to manage food for my family,” said Sharif.

Another farmer Jalil Manihar informed that he used boring water to cultivate paddy this year with difficulty. However, he couldn’t harvest the crops since the heavy rain destroyed them all.

“Farming is my only source of income. I couldn’t even produce a grain of rice this year. My family has started to struggle for food,” said Manihar. Narainapur Rural Municipality informed that the farmers are greatly affected since it is the second year that they couldn’t produce crops.

Authorities informed that 95 per cent of arable land was left barren this year due to drought. There is 4,966 hectares of arable land in Narainapur.

“Last year, farmers couldn’t harvest the crops as they were destroyed by heavy rain. This year, farmers couldn’t cultivate crops due to drought. Even a small portion of cultivated crops in Ward No. 5 and 6 were destroyed by rain during the time of harvest,” said Laxmikanta Mishra, information officer for the rural municipality.

Mishra stressed that the rural municipality had already started suffering from food shortage. “Farming is the major source of livelihood in Narainapur. With no cultivation, the locals have started fearing starvation. We are coordinating with higher authorities for a solution,” said Mishra.