Mahottari: Paddy seedlings plantation has halted in Mahottari district due to prolonged drought, leaving the farmers here worried. Till the first third week of July, paddy plantation is just around 25 per cent in the district.
According to National News Agency Nepal, paddy plantation is being done in 40,000 hectares of land in Mahottari out of a total 71,570 hectares of arable land, Chief of District Agriculture Knowledge Centre Debananda Raya Yadav said. Paddy plantation was done in more than 42,000 hectares of land last year in Mahottari.
He shared that the state of paddy plantation is not satisfactory, adding that only 25 per cent of the paddy plantation is done by supplying water through diesel pump, rivers, wells, shallow tube wells, and other available measures. Insufficient rainfall in the districts of the Tarai region has delayed the paddy plantation, he added.
According to Yadav, farmers in Sonma Rural Municipality completed 40 percent of paddy plantation, while the progress is just 10 percent in Manrashiswa Municipality. He stated that the paddy saplings could dry up if such a situation continues for one more week.