Baitadi, Oct. 2 -- Villages in Baitadi have little sign of Dashain festivity this year, with farmers fully occupied in harvesting crops.

This is the season when maize, millet, paddy, buckwheat and soybean ripen in the hilly fields, while in the lowlands, millet and paddy transplanted in June are ready for harvest. For locals, the urgency of bringing in the harvest outweighs the excitement of the festival.

"Dashain celebrations last only two or three days, but if we fail to collect our crops in time, we will have to depend on the market for food throughout the year," said Jantara Bhatt, a farmer from ward 5 of Melauli Municipality. She said the family had already husked and stored maize and had started cutting millet and buckwheat. "If i...