The dry weather and inadequate supply of irrigation water have left the farmers of Trong village in Zhemgang in a dilemma. The farmers are worried they will not be able to transplant paddy on time due to the water crisis.
Nearly 30 households in Trong village have about 50 acres of paddy fields all located at Tingbi Pam. And the people rely heavily on rainfall to irrigate their fields.
But without any rain in the past few weeks, farmers are struggling to water their paddy fields.
They say they have only been able to transplant paddy on less than half of their fields using a small irrigation channel. But those fields are also drying up since they do not have sufficient water.
“With continuous sunshine, no rainfall and only one water source, we don’t enough water for everyone. If we don’t get rainfall soon, I don’t think we can complete the transplantation,” said Thinley Penjor.
“We have irrigation water only when it rains. Even the little water that we have right now dries up,” said another Trong resident, Rinchen Lhamo.
Another villager, Ugyen Dorji, said their irrigation channel is small and insufficient since they have to share it with residents in the town.
“Our only water source is shared with the town. So, now we don’t have sufficient irrigation water, most of our fields remain fallow.”
The villagers normally complete the paddy transplantation works within July. But with the month now reaching its end, and no irrigation water in sight, farmers are losing hope with each passing day.
Pema Samdrup, Zhemgang
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
