Jumla men don’t return home as damaged canals ruin rice plantation prospects

By Netra Shahi,Jumla, Mar. 30: "If an individual did not return home in Jumla by Chait 12, he/she might not be alive." It has been a popular saying in Jumla district.

This refers to the practice that a Jumla local should return home by the 12th day of the Nepali month of Chait (March 25/26) to prepare seedbed of paddy, mostly the popular marsi species.

Karnali Province government gives a public holiday across the province on the fourth day of the Nepali month of Bhadra (which falls on August 20/21) as "Paddy Day" except in Jumla district because "Paddy Day" is marked on Chait 12 in Jumla.

However, this year, farmers of several local levels of Jumla did not return home to make the seedbeds, as the canals bringing water to their fields have been left unrepaired. 

The monsoon disasters in October last year destroyed the small canals along which the farmers bring water to their paddy fields in Devar and Badki villages of Hima Rural Municipality alongside the large canals constructed in Sinja, Tila, Chandannath and Kanakasundari Rural Municipalities.

Talking to The Rising Nepal on a video call, Daljit Shahi, a local earning his livelihood in India, said, "I would have come home this year like the previous ones to plant marsi had the canals been repaired."

Sur Bahadur Shahi, another farmer with a field in Devar village, also said that he decided to continue his business in India rather than returning home. 

"Along with me, 1,214 farmers did not return home for rice plantation this year," said Sur Bahadur, who further added, "I think it is the first time in years that people did not return to the villages for preparing seedbeds to grow paddy."

According to the farmers of Jumla, winter crops also dried in lack of water and they were also not sowing required quantity of seeds to grow the seedlings.

"There might be no plantation this year.  That is why we have not sown required amount of seeds," said Bir Bahadur Shahi, a farmer from Badki village.

The farmers have stressed that none of the three tiers of the government showed interest to repair the damaged canals in the past six months making them unable to perform the traditional plantation for the first time in many years.

According to Kanakasundari's chairman Damodar Acharya, three major canals and other small ones in the rural municipality sustained serious damage in the flood and landslide of October 2022.

Similarly, Tila Rural Municipality’s deputy-chairperson Gorikala Budha said that not only the canals but fields to plant marsi rice were also washed away by the floods in the rural municipality.

"Several canals bringing water to the fields where marsi rice used to be planted have been damaged. The damage is so severe that our budget cannot afford the repair or reconstruction costs," said Mitralal Dhital, chief administrative officer of Sinja Rural Municipality.

According to Dhital, the farmers also suffered due to the damages caused to the existing canals and washing away of the barley and wheat cultivation fields.

"We could not plant winter crops properly. In places where they were planted, they have dried up or been damaged. If the canals are not repaired at the earliest, there will be a shortage of food across the district affecting many families," said Dip Bahadur Malla, a farmer from Ward No. 1 of Chandannath.

According to Malla, they have apprised the authorities of their problems but to no avail.

Anup Shrestha, chief of the district's Water Supply, Irrigation and Energy Development Office, said they had sent a letter seeking assistance to repair/reconstruct 34 canal projects across Jumla to the Karnali Province Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources.

Local level representatives have urged higher authorities to provide necessary support at the earliest to help farmers earn a livelihood for survival.

"If the canals cannot be repaired now, the higher authorities should manage pipelines and pump water to the fields. 

They should support the locals of Jumla as their major source of income and survival is agriculture," 

said Ratna Bahadur Shahi, ward chairman of Ward No. 1 of Hima Rural Municipality.