Farmers busy harvesting paddy as weather improves

By Radha Krishna Dumre,Syangja (Waling), Nov. 4: With the improvement in the weather after the continuous rain stopped, farmers of Syangja are busy harvesting paddy. Due to the continuous rain a few days ago, the paddy that was cut and dried in the field was soaked, while the paddy that was ready to be harvested bent to the ground. 

The farmers are in trouble after they were unable to harvest the ripe paddy due to the rain caused by the Cyclone Montha, which developed from the Bay of Bengal. With the improvement in the weather from Sunday, they are busy harvesting the paddy that was soaked in water.

Farmer Sirjana Poudel of Waling Municipality-10 said that the straw has rotten to the point of being unusable. She said, "The rice has turned black, we will know what it will be like when we eat it later, but the straw has reached a point where it is useless.” 

Farmers who grow hybrid (developed) rice are in more trouble than those who grow traditional rice. Diwas Tiwari of Waling Municipality-6 said that sprouts have come up in the ripe paddy they planted.

Telling that the condition of the traditional rice planted by the neighbourhood was normal, Tiwari said that sprouts had come in the ripe rice that was cut and dried. Saying that they are still worried about whether it will rain, Ambika Dumre of Waling-10 said, "The fear of getting the paddy wet has led to it bending down when we did not cut it. 

Many farmers in the district are busy bringing in the harvested rice and harvesting it. This is according to the District Agricultural Knowledge Centre Syangja. Rice is planted in all 11 municipalities of the district.

Aandhi Khola river bank, Kaligandaki river bank, Jyagdikhola bank, Chapakot Tar, Ratnapur, Kuwakot, Galyabka area, Seti Dobhan fields and Biryani fields are fertile areas for rice cultivation.  In Syangja, Savitri, Mansuri, Ramdhan, hybrid as well as some advanced varieties of rice are cultivated, while in some places local varieties of 

rice are also planted.