Paddy production is expected to increase by 8 percent to 34,000 tonnes this year as harvest season begins. 

According to District Agriculture Development Office, paddy is cultivated on 12,000 hectares. “Due to favourable monsoon, paddy was transplanted on 99 percent of the total land available in the district,” said Durga Dutta Panthi, an agricultural extension officer. “We expect paddy output to increase by 8 percent,” he said, adding that the final statistics is yet to come. This year, only 200 hectares  of farmland failed to be transplanted. 

Farmers in the district are in a rush to harvest the summer crop after the Tihar festival. They said that it took a longer time for paddy to ripen this year. “The monsoon was delayed slightly. As a result, paddy ripening period was pushed back slightly,” said Chakra Dhoj Tiwari, a farmer of Ramchhe in Barabise Municipality. “We have to harvest our crop as early as possible as it might be affected by hailstorm,” said Juna Thapa, another farmer of Phulpingkot. Thapa said that they have been facing shortage of farm manpower. Paddy harvest has begun in the district. “All the households are busy and there are no workers available.” In some areas, farmers are using harvesters. Ganesh Bhattarai, a local farmer of Bahunepati of Melamchi Municipality, said that they have been using paddy harvester as there were not enough farm workers available. “We have been facing shortage of workers,” he said. Farmers are taking turns to use the harvester, Bhattarai added.

While farmers in Melamchi Municipality—the highest paddy producing area in the district—have witnessed a surge in paddy production this year, farmers in other districts have not been as lucky. 

Farmers in Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality have been affected by floods this year.

“The paddy field that was inundated by floods and swept away by landslides has caused problems for villagers to harvest their crop in the muddy water,” said Sanghe Sherpa of Gati Jambu in Barabise Municipality. “Our farmland on which we used to depend for food has been swept away. Now, it has become difficult for us to survive,” said Sherpa.