Kanchanpur, July 5:

Farmers who depend on rainfall for rice planting are happy this year as they could transplant the paddy crop on time due to regular rainfall since the beginning of the month of Asar.

Over 60 per cent of the farmers have finished paddy transplantation in this district, which is called the granary of the far-western region. ice planting is expected to be complete all over the district by month-end.

Though parts of the district have access to irrigation facility provided by Mahakali Irrigation Project and tube-wells, most of the arable land in Kanchanpur is rainfed. In previous years, irregular monsoon forced farmers to continue paddy transplantation till as late as the first week of August.

Farmers are also saddled with the problem of costly and sub-standard illegally imported fertilizers as the official channels have failed to meet the fertilizer demand.