KATHMANDU, JAN 19 -
Thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain and snowfall, particularly in the hilly and high mountainous parts in West Nepal, brought some respite for farmers on Friday, while it also affected normal life as mercury plummeted in these areas.
Farmers heaved a sigh of relief as they welcomed the rain s in their dry fields of wheat and barley crops, seasonal vegetables and fruits. After rice, wheat is the second major staple crop in the country. The active western disturbance, a weather condition responsible for rain s during the winter, was observed since Thursday evening across the Tarai belt and high altitude regions in most places in the western and some places in the central region, bringing partial to heavy rain s on Friday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD). These conditions are likely to continue until Saturday evening, it said. In Mahendranagar district in the Far-West, continuous rain fall and snowfall since Thursday night in both low-land and high-altitude districts led to a drop in day temperatures, which affected day-to-day activities of the local people.
However, according to agricultural experts at the Agriculture Development Office, the winter rain s will benefit wheat crops which had been drying up in the lack of adequate rain fall and proper irrigation facilities in the major wheat belt across the region.
Senior agriculture development officer Ganesh Chandra Dhakal said that besides wheat and barley, seasonal vegetables and fruits will benefit from the rain s. This rain fall is, however, likely to hamper mustard crops and ripe potatoes that are ready for harvest, he said.Districts, namely Dadedhura, Dipayal, Dhangadhi, Birendranagar and Jumla, in the region recorded rain fall measuring 95.4, 45.1, 47.1, 15.4 and 82.2 millimeters respectively on Friday, according to the MFD. Some other districts that received rain s in the west are Dailekh, Pyuthan, Mugu, Rukum and Bajhang.
This is the first time that the country witnessed rain s this winter after a dry spell of almost two months.
Agriculture experts had earlier warned of a significant drop in winter crop production this year due to the dry weather. Government estimates show that this year’s wheat production may drop by more than 10 percent, while production of other winter crops—potato, barley, mustard and lentils—may also fall. It was also forecast that wheat output would drop by 20-25 percent if the dry spell continued until January-end.
According to the spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture Development, Prabhakar Pathak, rain fall between mid-December and mid-January is considered a boon for winter crops, particularly wheat.
The MFD said that the average winter rain fall for the Eastern and Western regions and Kathmandu is around 40, 140 and 46mm respectively. Senior meteorologist Rajendra Prasad Shrestha said many places in the country may see cloudy weather and rain fall in the next few days. High mountainous regions will witness snowfall while there is a possibility of the weather improving in the western regions from Sunday, he added.
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