Heavy rains and strong winds over the past two weeks have damaged crops across western Nepal. Paddy ready for harvest has been ruined in the Tarai, while fruit and vegetable crops have suffered damage in the hills. Farmers who had been preparing to bring in their harvest have watched months of work go to waste. Local governments have begun sending agricultural technicians to assess the damage.

In Kailali, rain arrived just as farmers were cutting and drying their paddy. Ramdin Chaudhary of Kanari in ward 15 of Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City had cultivated paddy on 10 kattha (0.34 hectares) of land this year. After the crop ripened, he cut it and spread it out to dry in the field. But continuous rain on Tuesday and Wednesday flooded the fields before he could bring the harvest home.

Local resident Alpana Chaudhary said the harvested paddy had remained under water for three days and had begun to sprout. Ramdin’s neighbour, Prabhu Chaudhary, also suffered losses from the flooding.

“We had cut the paddy and left it in the field to dry. After several days of rain, it had already started sprouting,” Alpana said. “Now, not only the rice but also the straw has become unusable.”

Nanda Saud of ward 8 of Godawari Municipality said the rain had also ruined the paddy she had grown on 14 kattha (0.47 hectares). With the crop damaged just as she was preparing to harvest it, she said a year’s hard work had gone to waste. Farmers in Bhajani, Ghodaghodi, Kailari, and other parts of Dhangadhi have also reported damage to their paddy fields.

Tek Bahadur Bista, information officer at the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Kailali, said the prolonged rainfall was likely to reduce the district’s paddy output.

“Both early- and late-maturing varieties are grown in the district,” he said. “The rain has particularly damaged the early-maturing varieties.”

Kailali has around 65,000 hectares under paddy cultivation this year, with production initially estimated at 296,100 tonnes. The Agriculture Knowledge Centre said output could fall by 5 to 7 percent because of the rain.

In Bardiya, ripe paddy has been damaged in several local units, including Badhaiyatal, Gulariya, Bansgadhi, and Thakurbaba. Heavy rain on Wednesday hit just as farmers were harvesting their crops. Floodwaters swept away paddy that had been cut and left to dry in the fields. Residents said paddy was floating in floodwater in some places.

Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality estimates that paddy worth around Rs50 million has been damaged. Dipendra Shrivastav, an agriculture officer at the rural municipality, said about 500 hectares of paddy has been lost.

In Bansgadhi Municipality, around 10 percent of the paddy crop has been damaged by persistent rain and strong winds, according to agriculture officer Asmita Oli. A technical team deployed by the municipality is collecting details of the losses, she said.

Mahadev Sah, an agriculture officer at Gulariya Municipality, estimated that about 10 percent of the municipality’s paddy crop has been destroyed. Strong winds flattened crops, while flooding submerged fields. Around 150 hectares of farmland in Gulariya have been inundated, he said.

Paddy had already suffered damage during continuous rainfall from September 25 to 27. Farmers fear the latest spell of heavy rain on Wednesday will further reduce this year’s harvest.

Chet Ram Yadav, a resident of ward 11 of Gulariya Municipality, said storms and flooding had devastated his crop.

“Paddy planted on three bigha (2.03 hectares) of land has been submerged,” he said. “The losses are enormous. Without compensation from the government, it will be difficult to feed my family.”

Floods damage paddy in Salyan

Farmers in Salyan and Dang have faced similar losses. In Salyan, strong winds in the fourth week of September, followed by repeated spells of rain, have damaged maize, oranges, kiwi fruit, Sichuan pepper, and paddy. Figures from local governments indicate that crops worth more than Rs50 million have been destroyed across the district.

Ram Bahadur Rawat from ward 3 of Kumakh Rural Municipality in Salyan lost paddy grown on 15 ropani (0.76 hectares) of land after several days of continuous rain caused flooding in the Ikhre stream.

“I would normally harvest around 50 muri of paddy from those 15 ropani,” he said. “That would easily feed my family of six or seven for the whole year.” One muri of unhusked paddy rice is approximately 50 to 53 kg.

Heavy rain on Tuesday and Wednesday also damaged paddy that had been cut and left to dry in ward 7 of Kalimati Rural Municipality. Around 250 hectares of harvested paddy were affected, said ward chair Mitralal Rijal. About 300 families have been affected, he added.

In the Deukhuri area of Dang, persistent rain and strong winds have flattened harvest-ready paddy. Much of the ripe crop has been soaked, and many fields are now waterlogged.

Damage has been reported across much of Lamahi Municipality and Rapti and Gadhawa rural municipalities, where fields had turned yellow as the crop ripened.

Farmers say they face similar losses almost every year and have called for solutions to recurring inundation and access to agricultural insurance.

Local governments have said they will begin collecting damage assessments immediately and provide relief to affected farmers wherever possible.

The storms have also hit farmers who depend on commercial fruit and vegetable production for their livelihoods.

Dhan Bahadur Kawar from Gairibang in ward 1 of Kapurkot Rural Municipality, Salyan, has grown off-season vegetables on 15 ropani (0.76 hectares) of land for two decades. He usually earns around Rs1.5 million a year from tomatoes. But strong winds on September 26 devastated his crop.

Kawar had invested Rs400,000 in tomatoes and other vegetables and managed to sell produce worth Rs100,000 from the first harvest before the storm struck.

“The storm destroyed the vegetables, wiping out both my investment and expected income,” he said. “I have started worrying about how we will celebrate the festivals.”

Balaram Khadka, ward chair of Kapurkot-1, said strong winds had caused more than Rs10 million in damage to fresh vegetables grown by over 300 farmers, as well as to polytunnels, houses and a school. Those who depend on vegetable sales for their income have been particularly hard hit, he said.

At Chaurpani in Chhatreshwari of Salyan, Dipendra Kawar’s orchard of more than 800 orange trees has suffered heavy losses. He earned Rs1.9 million from orange sales last year and had expected another good harvest this season, but strong winds of September 26 knocked the fruit off trees.

Tej Bahadur Yogi of Gurase in Chhatreshwari also lost more than four quintals of kiwi fruits to the winds. 

In Ghorahi, Dang, banana farmer Hom Bahadur KC suffered major losses after continuous rain and strong winds devastated his four-bigha (2.71 hectares) plantation.

Around 90 percent of the banana plants on his land have fallen, including 1,300 fruit-bearing plants that were nearing harvest. KC estimates his direct losses at around Rs1.5 million.