Winter is paddy planting time for Madhubani's Kewarat

 

Pathari, Morang,  Generally farmers sow paddy during the summer months and that also especially in monsoon. 
But for 65-year-old Narayan Prasad Kewarat of Rangeli, winter is the paddy planting time. 
Don't be surprised if you see women farm workers planting paddy seedlings on his fields at Madhubani Chok at Rangeli Municipality-6 in Morang district at this time of the year. 
The farmers are busy planting rice on hundreds of bighas of land these days at Madhubani Chok. 
Kewarat has been planting paddy on 10 bighas field on crop-sharing basis since the last 35 years. He only grows paddy on the 10 bighas land two times a year. At other times the field are left fallow. 
Kewarat has been cultivating the Ghutraj variety of paddy in winter and harvests the crop in mid-May and then plants another crop in June. The winter paddy yield is between 60 to 80 maunds. 
According to him, growing paddy in winter has become more difficult and costlier these days. 
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