Farmers of Banke waiting for relief

Farmers of Banke, who were affected by the unseasonal rains in the first week of November, are still waiting for relief. They have burnt the straw in the field now as it is useless. Farmer Ramesh Barma of Janaki Gaonpalika-5 Belhari informed that the paddy was burnt in the field as it was unfit for human consumption.

According to him, many farmers have set fire to the straw in the field on the understanding that the rotten straw will be fertilized after burning it in the field without any trouble. The farmers have submitted the details of the damage to the agriculture branch through the ward office for relief. But the farmers are getting frustrated due to lack of relief till now.

In the first week of last October, the paddy that had been cut and watered for several days in a row was severely damaged. Farmer Gehendra Dhital of Khajura informed that the government has not been able to do much to compensate the farmers for the loss of their year-round rice crop.

He said that the affected farmers have not received anything so far even though it has been heard that the government has taken the process forward by setting criteria for relief to the farmers. According to Sagar Dhakal, head of the District Agriculture Knowledge Center, 85,000 metric tonnes of paddy planted on 20 hectares in the district have been damaged due to unseasonal rains.

According to him, work is underway to prepare documents for the relief of the affected farmers. Paddy is cultivated in 36,500 hectares in the district. Looking at these statistics, more than half of the paddy crop has been damaged. This loss is equal to Rs. 1.97 billion. Due to timely rains and the release of water from the Sikta canal this year, good paddy was produced in Banke. The incessant rains that fell in the first week of November have caused great loss in the districts which are self-sufficient in paddy. Although the Agriculture Knowledge Center has assessed the damage of paddy, it has not collected the damage of straw.