Gorkha. The incessant rainfall since Tuesday morning has damaged paddy crops in the district. Farmers are worried as the rain has damaged their paddy crops.

Tul Bahadur Thapa, a farmer, said that Sirdiphant of Gorkha municipality-10 has been waterlogged. “It rained immediately after the festival when we were ready to harvest the paddy. Except for one or two people in the village, all of them have dried the paddy in their fields,” he said. Now the harvested paddy is submerged in the field. Even those who have not been cut have lost their hair. According to him, there is a concern that the year’s hard work will be wasted due to unseasonal rainfall.

The unseasonal rainfall has damaged paddy crops in the district, said Prakash Bastakoti, chief of the district-based Agriculture Knowledge Centre. According to him, 10 per cent farmers in the district have already brought paddy while around 40 per cent have already harvested paddy and 50 per cent farmers are preparing to harvest it. He said that the rain has especially damaged the paddy crops that have dried up in the fields.

“Paddy is the main crop of this season. The farmers are busy harvesting paddy. In such a situation, unseasonal rainfall has caused inconvenience to the farmers,” Bastakoti said, adding, “Looking at the situation so far, there has not been heavy rainfall in Gorkha.” Ripe and harvested paddy can be brought in if dried in the sun for two to three days. He said that there would be no problem in the paddy that is ripening and dried after harvesting without rain, adding that there could be problems of paddy fall if there is more rain.

Of the total 10,140 hectares of paddy cultivation in the district, paddy was planted in 9,562 hectares of land last year. According to Agriculture Knowledge Centre, paddy plantation has been done in only 8,565 hectares of land this year. Last year, 39,900 metric tons of paddy was produced but this year it is expected to decrease due to drought and infertility.

Centre chief Bastakoti said that paddy production might decrease this year due to unseasonal rainfall. He said that in Gorkha, Ramdhan, Savitri, Sukha-2 and other advanced varieties and champion US-312 paddy will be planted in the hybrid. According to him, some people have also planted seeds of local varieties of rice.

According to the agriculture centre, paddy production is high in Daraudiphant, Sirdiphant, Sheraphat, Jyadulphant, Tariphant, Darbungphant, Borlangphant, among other areas of the district. Rainfall has occurred in the lower parts of the district while heavy snowfall has occurred in the upper part of the district. Locals said snowfall has been taking place in various settlements of northern Gorkha since Tuesday night.

Pasangphunjo Lama of Chumnubri rural municipality-7 said normal life has been affected due to the snowfall. “Now the people here are warming themselves by the fire inside their homes. The yaks are also inside. According to him, the villages of Nile, Chule, Pangdun, Lar, Phurpe, Lamagaun, Burji, Jong and Chhekam which are located at an altitude of more than three thousand meters are covered with snow.

Similarly, Samagaun, Samdo of Ward No. 1 and Syala and Lho of Ward No. 2 have also been covered by snow. Tourists visiting Manaslu region have also been affected due to the snowfall. Tourists who had gone to Larke Pass, which is located at an altitude of 5,106 meters, have returned while some have stopped at Samagaun and Samdo, according to the locals.

Chief of District Police Office and Superintendent of Police Bharat Bahadur BK said no road section has been obstructed so far due to incessant rainfall.