Kathmandu, June 10 -- Nepal will have to wait for a few more days before the heavens open up and the rains come down to water the parched fields. The monsoon delivers 75 percent of the rains that fall annually in the country, and farmers are constantly scanning the skies for the clouds to start pouring so they can plant the all-important paddy crop.

Delays in the arrival of the monsoon is not only a concern for farmers. The Nepali economy is heavily dependent on the agriculture sector, and farming activities will get delayed right from the sowing of seeds to the transplanting and harvesting. The monsoon is the lifeblood of Nepal's Rs3-trillion economy as nearly two-thirds of the farmlands are rain-fed.

Archana Shrestha, spokesperson for...