Nepalgunj, October 4:

Unlike in previous years, farmers in Banke, who used to sell their agricultural products and celebrate dashain, spent the festival this time around looking for food grains to feed their family members.

“There wasn’t even a kg of rice in my house during dashain,” a farmer, Ram Pharen Kurmi of Holiya, said.

The reasons for the food shortage are drought that hit the region till the first week of Bhadra and floods that wreaked havoc after that.

Paddy plantation in Banke was severely hit till the first week of Bhadra due to the drought. However, on the 10th day of the same month 300 ml of rainfall was recorded in Banke within three hours. This resulted in the floods, chief of the Field Office of the Department of Meteorology, Nepalgunj, Jeewacha Shah, said.

Seven persons were killed and 31,000 locals of 41 VDCs were affected by the flood. The floods left a trail of destruction with the total damage estimated at around Rs 200 million. While the flood victims were provided with foodstuff only for about a month after the floods, they are now left with nothing to eat.