Madhesh Province Farmers Face Shortage of Chemical Fertilizers and Irrigation Amidst Paddy Planting Season

Janakpurdham. With the onset of Ashad, farmers are busy with paddy transplantation. However, farmers in Madhesh are facing a shortage of chemical fertilizers and irrigation during the paddy planting season.

In areas without irrigation facilities, farmers are compelled to rely on rainwater for paddy transplantation. Insufficient rainfall has led to a lack of water in the fields, and the unavailability of chemical fertilizers has worried the farmers.

Although some places have irrigation facilities, in most areas, the irrigation system is weak, forcing farmers to wait for rainwater.

Paddy cultivation is highest in the districts of Dhanusha, Mahottari, Siraha, Saptari, Bara, and Rautahat in Madhesh Province.

This year, the changing weather and erratic rainfall have further increased the farmers' concerns. Vijayprasad Raut of Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City-20 cultivates paddy on four bighas of land. He said, 'Some fields were transplanted today, but where to get fertilizer? The transplanted paddy needs fertilizer. When we go to the depot, they send us back saying there is no fertilizer.'

Badrī Sah of Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City-24, who brought water from someone else's boring for paddy transplantation, also complained about not getting fertilizer. He expressed concern that the crops would not be good due to the lack of timely water and fertilizer.

Similarly, Raghav Thakur of Jaleshwor Sub-Metropolitan City-10 also said that it is difficult to cultivate due to the unavailability of fertilizer and irrigation.

Sītāsharan Pandit of Balwa Municipality-7 has a similar complaint. 'When they ask for votes, they promise to provide fertilizer, boring, and irrigation facilities on time, but now when we are in trouble, no one comes,' he said.

Similar problems are seen in most districts of Madhesh Province.

The Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Madhesh Province has stated that it has distributed 7,328 metric tons of urea and 6,610 metric tons of DAP fertilizer to all 136 local levels in the province, targeting the monsoon paddy.

Although urea received from the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited and DAP fertilizer received from Salt Trading Corporation Limited have been sent to the local levels, the fertilizer has not reached the depots and consumers in most places.

Kailash Sah, a depot operator in Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City-23, said, 'Janakpur Sub-Metropolitan City has not given a letter yet. We have not been provided with fertilizer on time.'

He said that they are distributing the little remaining fertilizer from before, but it is not sufficient.

Ravi Basnet, an official at the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of the province responsible for fertilizer-related complaints, says that fertilizer has been sent to the depots.

'We have received complaints from many municipalities that fertilizer has not reached the depots. Our effort is to coordinate and ensure that fertilizer reaches every municipality quickly and is made available to farmers on time,' he said.

In Madhesh, some farmers cultivate land taken on lease (Bataiya). Raghuveer Yadav from Machhi Jhitakaiya in Dhanusha said that even farming on lease is difficult. Half of the produce has to be given to the landowner, but due to lack of irrigation and fertilizer, production decreases and costs increase, which affects such farmers, he said.

Gagandev Jha from Salampur in Sarlahi said, 'There is water somewhere, and it is dry somewhere else. Somewhere the field is ready but there are no seeds, somewhere there are seeds but no laborers, no fertilizer. Most of the boring and tube wells are broken. How long will we farm relying on rainwater?'