By Our Correspondents
Damak/Bhairahawa, Oct. 19: The rain that has been falling continuously for two days has caused huge damage to the paddy crop in different places, including Jhapa and Rupandehi. It started raining when farmers were preparing to harvest the paddy.
The rain has caused severe damage to paddy in the southern region of Rupandehi.

Some farmers have already harvested paddy and others have just started harvesting. A farmer Ram Avtar Yadav of Rupandehi said that the paddy planted in his five bigahas of land was destroyed by the rain.
"The paddy was ripe. We were preparing to harvest it in a few days, but the sudden rainfall ruined a year's hard work," he said.

As soon as the Dashain was over, most of the farmers were preparing to harvest paddy. But the rains have caused severe damage to both harvested and standing ripe paddy.
Farmer Jit Bahadur Rana of Butwal Sub-Metropolitan-15, Raniganj, said that rain has damaged paddy grown in one bigaha and 10 katthas of land.
"It was planted in time this year due to timely rains. The paddy had good rice ears, but the rains shattered all our dreams," he said.

In the southern region of Rupandehi, which is considered as a pocket area for paddy production, the crop was already ripe.
The harvested paddy in Devadaha, Omsatiya, Siyari, Shuddhodhan, Marchwar, Sammarimai, Kotaimai and other localities of Rupandehi is now submerged in water.
Jaikisan Chaudhary of Rupandehi Shuddhodhan said that the damage was caused due to heavy rains while the paddy was being harvested.

He said that the amount of damage caused by the rains has yet to be projected.
Farmer Rajendra Chaudhary of Omsatiya Rural Municipality-5, said that all the paddy planted in his field was inundated.
Chaudhary, who is also an employee of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, said that paddy, including Gorakhnath, Radha-4 and Sarju-52 had been cultivated in most of the fields.
Due to timely rains and availability of fertiliser, paddy cultivation was estimated to be higher this year as compared to last year.
Out of 82,000 hectares of arable land in Rupandehi, paddy has been cultivated in more than 65,000 hectares this year.

Sandesh Dhital, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Nawalparasi, which also covers Rupandehi, said that work was underway to collect details of the damage the rains caused to the paddy crop.
"We are asking the local levels for details of the damage. We will know about the damage in a day or two," he said.
Meanwhile, paddy has been damaged due to continuous rains with strong winds for the past two days in Jhapa.

According to Sukdev Luitel of Damak-3, the paddy crop has been damaged due to strong winds.
He said that it had affected the paddy crop of the farmers, including his own.

According to Luitel, who is also a ward member, the rains have damaged paddy which was ready for harvest in Bighau.
According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Jhapa, more than paddy crop in around 5,000 hectares of has been damaged due to winds and rainfall since Friday.