Banke. BANKE, April 22: Farmers in Banke district have started cultivating three crops in a year with the expansion of irrigation facility. The compulsion to rely on rainwater for farming has now ended.

According to Santosh Pathak, information officer of Agriculture Knowledge Centre, farmers who had kept their fields barren due to lack of irrigation have now started cultivating potato and mustard after harvesting paddy and have started cultivating spring maize and cultivating three crops in a year.

“With the provision of irrigation, the attraction of farmers towards three crops has increased and the farmers are earning cash from potato and spring maize,” he said, adding that the farmers who cultivate wheat after the rainy season are limited to two crops and farmers cultivating mustard or potato instead of wheat are able to cultivate maize. ”

Officer Pathak said that the Agriculture Knowledge Centre has also been encouraging farmers to cultivate three crops as mustard cultivation or potato farming is faster than wheat farming. According to him, the Knowledge Centre has been encouraging farmers cultivating three crops under the Crop Density Enhancement Programme targeted at the irrigated area in Banke district by providing seeds and technical support for maize cultivation.

In Banke, paddy is cultivated in 33,780 hectares of land, wheat in 20,895 hectares, spring maize in 3,500 hectares, potato in 3,250 hectares, mustard in 6,530 hectares and winter maize in 135 hectares. It has been easier for farmers to farm after the Sikta Irrigation Project released water in the canal. According to Pathak, the Agriculture Knowledge Centre has distributed borewells to cooperatives and farmers’ groups on 50 percent subsidy for irrigation in the areas where the water of Sikta irrigation has not reached.

Raju Acharya, director of the project, said that the canal has been releasing water during the farming season to prevent irrigation for the farmers.

According to him, the project has set a target of irrigating 42,766 hectares of land in the district÷.

Krishna Bikram KC, president of All Nepal Farmers’ Federation, Banke, said that farmers in Banke would get a good yield if there is regular irrigation facility and this would help in economic prosperity.