MAHOTTARI: After months of severe drought, farmers in Mahottari are finally breathing a sigh of relief as recent rains have revived hopes for their paddy and other crops.
Continuous rainfall since Monday, including a steady downpour overnight, has replenished soil moisture across most parts of the district.
Vijay Yadav, a farmer from Kataiya in Bhangaha-3, said the past three days of rainfall have been a boon. “The paddy seedlings we planted earlier using water from wells, boreholes, and shallow tube wells through pump sets now have a real chance of survival,” he said.
Although the rain has not yet expanded new planting areas, it has provided much-needed moisture to previously transplanted paddy.
“The yellowing seedlings caused by intense heat have started to recover,” said Ram Udgaar Mahato from Premnagar in Bardibas-7. Similarly, 75-year-old farmer Islam Rain from Ramnagar in Bhangaha-4 said the showers have also benefited sugarcane, vegetables, maize, and millet. “The sugarcane tips had begun drying due to the long drought, but now it’s like magic – the plants are reviving,” he said.
While the rainfall has been sufficient for non-paddy crops and seedlings in nurseries, farmers say transplanted paddy still needs more water to fully fill the fields.
Due to the prolonged dry spell, paddy transplantation in Mahottari has been delayed significantly. The district has about 42,500 hectares of arable land suitable for paddy, but as of the third week of July, only around 35 percent of fields had been planted, according to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Mahottari.
Senior Agriculture Development Officer Dewanand Yadav said that while the recent rain may not greatly expand the transplanted area, it has provided considerable relief to paddy already in the ground.
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