Delays in Morang’s monsoon rains
Despite forecasted above-average rainfall, farmers in Morang are unable to plant paddy due to lack of rain, with paddy planting across 14 districts reaching 13.71% last year. As of June 2, 14.25% of paddy planting in the province is complete, with only 15% in Morang district, compared to 18% last year. Paddy planting could rise dramatically in just one week, according to Deepa Dev, Chief of the Morang Agriculture Knowledge Centre. The first week of June saw a strong growth rate, but the second week saw a slowdown. Overall, it can still be deemed satisfactory if we achieve 18 to 20% in Morang. Farmers claimed they haven’t been able to begin planting because of the lack of rain.
Although the Sunsari-Morang Irrigation Project’s Keroun canal typically supplies water to Kanepokhari and Belbari crops, the water has not yet reached the region. In a similar vein, Karilal Mandal of Sunbarshi-5 asserted that neither rain nor water originates from the sky. The voltage of the electricity is also very low. Due to malfunctioning motors, farmers are unable to irrigate with subterranean water. In order to grow paddy in the first week of July, farmers claimed they were compelled to extract groundwater. Many fear that their paddy seedlings will be destroyed if there isn’t timely rain.
