Fearing rain, farmers rush to harvest paddy

By Our Correspondent

Deukhuri, Oct. 21: Bishnu Paudel, a resident of Deupur, Lamahi Municipality-6, in Dang district, had to bear a loss in paddy crops last year.

Due to the rain, there is a problem of decaying of paddy that had been cut and dried in the field.

In order not to be like last year, in the fear of rain, this time he cut the paddy while it was still green.

He had never harvested paddy in such a hurry in the past.

He said that this time the paddy had to be harvested in a hurry. Similarly, Ram Bahadur Chaudhary of the same place has also started harvesting the paddy before it ripened properly.

His plan is to cut the paddy immediately while getting the thresher available and keep it at home in time.

Puran Chaudhary of Gadhawa Rural Municipality-6, Banki has been collecting harvested paddy since morning and has a plan to celebrate Tihar after completing the paddy harvest.

These three are only representative farmers.

Now, not only in Deukhuri of Dang, but in most places, farmers are busy harvesting paddy. Farmers are planning to save rice from rains as much as possible.

Last year, due to the rains during paddy harvesting, the farmers were forced to harvest in fresh paddy because of the fear of rain.

Paudel said, "Last year, the paddy got wet, we had to bear a big loss in the paddy, now we have rushed to get it on time."

The rain on the eve of Dashain has given the farmers more trouble, he said.

"If the rain falls, the paddy will be damaged. So we have already cut the paddy that should be harvested after a week," said Puran Chaudhary of Gadhawa.

Agricultural experts have suggested not to rush to cut the raw paddy.

Ghanashyam Chaudhary, chief of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Dang, said that because many varieties of paddy are planted in Deukhuri, other than the late-ripening rice, it has already ripened.

He said, "There is no need to rush to harvest raw paddy. I advise the farmers to dry the paddy properly after harvesting.”