Floods destroy 1,806 hectares of farmland and threaten food supplies

Farmers in Nepal’s Nuwakot district had spent two years adapting to a changing climate. In Bidur Municipality, they were growing paddy alongside millet and soybeans, while new equipment was being introduced to turn locally produced millet into bakery products.

That effort has been badly hit by the Bhotekoshi floods. Six farmers involved in the project have been missing, said Sudha Sapkota of the Nepal Agricultural Research Council. Other farmers have lost their fields and crops, and some no longer have farmland to cultivate.

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Many farmers have lost their fields and crops, while some no longer have farmland to cultivate.

“Many farmers have lost their fields and crops, while some no longer have farmland to cultivate,” Sapkota said after returning from an inspection visit. “Farmers who were planning to start production and increase their income are now anxious and unsure about how to move forward.”

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Farmers who were planning to start production and increase their income are now anxious and unsure about how to move forward.

Thirty farmers had received training through a collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre, known as the gene bank. They had also received new paddy varieties, while machines and ovens had recently been distributed. Farmers were encouraged to expand climate-friendly varieties including Ram Dhan and Sabitri.

The floods destroyed paddy, soybeans and pulses planted along field boundaries. A preliminary assessment by Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority found that 1,806 hectares of agricultural land had been damaged. Shanti Mahar, the authority’s spokesperson, said food production in affected areas was expected to decline by 7,686 tonnes. She stressed that the figures remain preliminary and will be updated after a full assessment.

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The floods have severely affected farmers’ hopes of earning an income from their produce and have also affected local food consumption.

Sapkota said the damage had weakened both farmers’ prospects of earning income and local food consumption. Experts warn that losses during the main farming season will disrupt food supplies, while the destruction of fields undermines efforts to build more resilient local agriculture.

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These figures are from the preliminary assessment.