Stray cattle damages rice in Tikapur

Tikapur (Kailali), Aug 29: Farmers in Janaki Rural Municipality of Kailali district have been hassled by stray cattle for quite a while. They are facing difficulty to protect rice plant from the stray cattle. They requested the rural municipality to manage well the stray cattle but in vain. A farmer Dambar Chaudhari said the rice is fully grown and time for seeding begins after some days, but the stray cattle has been a constant nuisance.

As he informed, the rice is in panicle initiation stage, but the cows left unattended have damaged it. Birendra Kunwar, another farmer from Janaki-3, shared the plight that they were bound to stay vigil round-the-clock after the domestic animals left unattended began destroying rice. “A herd of stray cattle entered the paddy field and damaged it planted in two katthas of land some days back,” he said, adding that even the crops fenced with wire is invaded.

Ganesh Upadhyay viewed although the local levels had made arrangement for immediate purpose, long term solution of stray cattle is awaited. Due to continued pestering of such animals, some farmers even quit paddy plantation. They sowed legume this year. Last year, the rural municipality had allocated Rs 2.5 million to contain stray cattle. Similar amount has been allocated this year as well.

Rural municipality chair Ganesh Chaudhari informed that the local level was holding discussions and coordinating with stakeholders for long term solution of stray cattle problems. “Rural municipality is coordinating with community forest in a bid to search for a land to contain stray cattle,” he said, adding that even the proposal was called for managing this problem. The Janaki Rural Municipality alone has more than 1,000 stray cattle.