Only 15 percent of the land irrigated in Baglung

Dhorpatan (Baglung), Jan 11: Only 15.15 per cent of the arable land in the district has irrigation facilities.     

The district has a total of 178,400 hectares of land, of which 46,148 hectares is being cultivated. A total of 6,790 hectares of land have been irrigated till now, while the area with irrigation facility throughout the year is 2,815 hectares, according to Head of Water Resources and Irrigation Development Division Office, Baglung, Surendra Paudel.     

A large budget is needed to provide irrigation facilities to all the land due to geographical difficulties in Baglung, adds Paudel.     

This year the Gandaki province and the federal government have planned to invest Rs 222 million in Baglung. Altogether 104 schemes of the province and 20 schemes of the federal government are under implementation in the current financial year.     

Chief Paudel said the demand for irrigation schemes has increased and although the office aims to provide access to irrigation in all areas irrigation schemes are now being implemented in fields where rice and wheat are cultivated. After the access to irrigation, the area under paddy cultivation has also increased.     

Baglung is yet to become self-sufficient in food. Balibhadra Gharti, a farmer of Nisikhola Rural Municipality-5 in the district says that the production has decreased due to the lack of irrigation.     

Maize tops among the cereals produced by the district, where it is grown on more than 20,000 hectares. Likewise, Millet is cultivated on 18,000 and wheat on 7,000 hectares.     

According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre Baglung, although paddy was planted in more than 6,000 hectares of land last year only 18,690 metric tons of paddy was harvested.     

 This year, 20,551 metric tons of paddy has been produced by growing it in an area of 5,717 hectares. (RSS)