KAILALI: Normal life in Kailali, Kanchanpur and other districts in the far-western southern plains has become tougher during this winter as in past years- cold waves take toll.

With foggy days, it has been difficult for the people to run daily life in a normal state. Freezing cold has badly affected the aged people, children and daily wageworkers.

When the hilly districts are enjoying sunshine during this winter, the districts in southern plains like Kailali and Kanchanpur have remained blanketed with heavy fog.

Biting frost covering surface is quite numbing. People are even not able to get their grains and washed clothes dry.

The prolonged cold wave has led to an outbreak of Dadhuwa disease (blight) on winter crops: potatoes, tomatoes and mustard. It has already become an issue among the farmers here.

Athough farmers here have been doing commercial vegetable farming, the adverse weather in winter has posed a grave threat to sustainability.

Some farmers have switched tunnel farming to protect crops from the disease and some of those who are unable to manage tunnels use pesticides time and again. But those who can’t afford pesticides face the challenges unabated.

District Chief at Agricultural Knowledge Center Khagendra Prasad Sharma said prolonged cold wave would cause blight infection on crops including potatoes and tomatoes. He recommends the safe use of pesticides to protect the crops.

Sixty-eight –year-old Ramdin Chaudhary of the then Geta Village Development Committee remembered those days when his village would become yellowish as the mustard plants started blooming. Now the mustard farming has sharply gone down due to blight.

Center’s Chief Sharma also admits that the fall in mustard faming in the recent years in the district is because of climate change and the persistent blight-caused problem.

Moreover, the rising cold coupled with cold wave has increased the risk of Covid-19 infections. Seti Provincial Hospital, Dhangadhi Covid-19 treatment department Chief Dr Sher Bahadur Kamar said the coronavirus becomes more active during cold and we could predict that the infections rate may go higher.

The medicos recommend for avoiding the crowd, maintaining physical distance, wearing mask, staying safe from cold and following proper dietary habits as preventive measures against the virus.

As cold increases, the number of patients suffering from common cold, pneumonia, fever and asthma has soared, it is said. As said by Attariya-based Mahakali Basin Field Office of Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the minimum temperature in the region has been declining for the past three days.
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