Mahottari. Paddy crops cultivated in around two thousand hectares of land in nine municipalities of the district have been destroyed by the massive floods that broke the embankment of the Rato River on Sunday and Monday.

Chief of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Devanand Yadav, said that out of 15 local levels in the district, only nine municipalities have so far destroyed paddy crops cultivated in around 2,000 hectares of land. According to him, paddy was destroyed in 1,939 hectares of land in Mahottari Rural Municipality, 500 hectares in Balwa Municipality, 300 hectares in Matihani Municipality, 300 hectares in Ekdara Rural Municipality, 100 hectares in Loharpatti Municipality, 86 hectares in Bhangaha Municipality, 23 hectares in Aurahi Municipality, 20 hectares in Gaushala Municipality and 10 hectares in Sonam Rural Municipality.

Similarly, 1,290 hectares of sugarcane crop, 636 hectares vegetable crops and 153 hectares of pulses were destroyed by the floods in these municipalities, according to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre. Sonam rural municipality has suffered the most damage to sugarcane crops (875 hectares) while Matihani municipality has suffered the most damage to vegetable crops in 100 hectares.

The embankment of the Red River breached and affected 10 municipalities and five rural municipalities in the district. This has caused a huge loss to the agriculture sector. The Agriculture Knowledge Centre has demanded details of the damage caused by floods in the agriculture sector from each local level but only nine municipalities have so far provided the details of the damage.