Bagmati. Farmers of Hatia, Chowghada, Kamana are worried about storing paddy, while some are worried that the unharvested paddy will spoil due to water.
“The paddy is ripe in the field, there is a rumor that the weather will deteriorate, cut or not”, said the officer, “I have planted rice in 12 kattha area, it is a matter of whether to cut or not.”
The low pressure system developing in the Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into a cyclone and the weather is likely to become adverse from Wednesday due to its effects.
According to the forecast, it is expected that there will be cloud cover and scattered rain in Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki regions on Wednesday and there is a possibility of snowfall in the Himalayan region.
Paddy has ripened in the field of Faniraj Adhikari of Hetauda sub-metropolis-10 Hatia district. They are in a dilemma whether to cut the ripe paddy or not.
The National Agricultural Environment Research Center is requesting to store the rice till Tuesday as it may cause damage to the paddy crop.
According to the forecast of Nepal Meteorological Department, the weather is likely to be unfavorable in different parts of the country from tomorrow.
Anticipating that the impact of the weather system will spread to more areas from Thursday, the department said that its impact will increase further on Friday and Saturday.
In view of the possible weather, the Center has advised the farmers not to delay in harvesting and bringing in rice, and suggested to carry out agricultural work as per the advice of the technician after the weather improves.
Farmers say that until a few years ago, the weather in Nepal could not be predicted, but recently, the forecast has started to be accurate. Hari Adhikari, another local resident, said that most of the farmers are of the opinion that they should work only by paying attention to the weather because of the predictions made earlier.
80-year-old Mr. Prasad Neupane informed that until a few years ago, paddy was cultivated in the entire district in Hatia district. He said that in the recent years, due to the increasing settlement development, the agricultural lands are turning into wasteland.
“Earlier, most of the areas in this area were just paddy fields”, he said, “In the past few years, especially the areas around the road have started to be filled with houses. Every year, the agricultural lands are turning into slums.”
Multi-crop farming is practiced in this area. He said that crops such as corn are planted after rice, followed by mustard or potatoes, so there is some cultivation throughout the year. He has experienced that in recent times, when local youths started going abroad for employment, there was a shortage of manpower. He said that more than 100 laborers from different areas in the Terai are in Hatia area to import paddy.
Stating that due to the forecast of the weather, there was a rush to bring in those who had harvested rice, he said that there was a situation of fear to harvest the unharvested rice.