KATHMANDU: Flooding caused by heavy rains on September 27 and 28 has severely damaged Koshi province's agriculture, with damages estimated at about Rs 340 million. The provincial government's Ministry of Industry, Agriculture, and Cooperatives estimates that the entire damage is Rs 344,585,000.

The most severely affected crop, with losses of Rs 176,175,000, was the rice crop. This year, 5,722.78 hectares of the 275,267.98 hectares of land used for rice cultivation were impacted by flooding. The serious effects on rice agriculture were emphasized by Dr. Deepa Diyali, Chief of Koshi Province's Food Security and Monitoring Division.

The most damage was in Khotang district, when 3,739.3 hectares of rice harvests were destroyed by floods. After Khotang, Sunsari reported that 824 hectares of rice had been damaged, 398.78 hectares of Udayapur had been destroyed, 287 hectares of Jhapa had lost crops, 244 hectares of Morang, 113 hectares of Bhojpur, 34.75 hectares of Tehrathum, and 11.2 hectares of Solukhumbu.

The floods damaged a number of other crops in addition to rice. A total of 414.80 hectares of vegetables worth Rs 11,187,800 were impacted. A total of Rs 37.1 million was lost from millet on 2,357.50 hectares, Rs 2,773,000 from fruits on 10.50 hectares, and Rs 4,812,000 from lentils on 58.60 hectares.

Food security in the area is seriously threatened by the extensive damage since the losses will reduce the amount of agricultural produce that the impacted farmers can produce. Since many citizens rely heavily on agriculture for their livelihoods, the province's economy would also suffer.

According to the Ministry's opinion, it is critical to address the agricultural difficulties brought on by extreme weather occurrences and to help impacted farmers. The rising frequency of these occurrences has sparked worries about climate change and how it may affect regional agriculture.

The resilience of the agricultural sector in Koshi province will depend heavily on efforts to lessen the effects of future flooding and aid in the recovery of the impacted farmers.