Manipur Farmers Affected By Ethnic Violence To Receive Rs 38.06 Crore Compensation Package

Manipur News: Bishnupur district is the worst-affected in terms of agricultural land area comprising 5,288 hectares, constituting 54.4 per cent of the total land area of 9,718 hectares, followed by Imphal East.

It is estimated that the total income loss for the state in the agricultural sector this year could be around Rs 226.50 crore. Of this, the highest loss will be in rice production to the tune of Rs 211.41 crore which accounts for 93.36 per cent of the total agriculture. (Image used for representational purposes only.) ( Image Source :PTI )

Guwahati: Five months since the northeastern state of Manipur descended into a spiral of conflict, coupled with inadequate rainfall pointing to the probability of crop failure, food insecurity, and a threat to the livelihood of the people of the restive state, the Manipur agriculture department has come up with a crop compensation package as relief for the ethnic violence affected farmers to the tune of Rs 38.06 crore.
 
An independent survey conducted by the Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup (LOUSAL), a farmers’ body, claimed that a total area of around 9,719 hectares of agricultural fields in the valley could be facing crop failure as farmers are scared of going into their paddy fields due to sporadic firing by the armed miscreants from the lower foothills, the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Manipur stated in a press release on Sunday. 

It is estimated that the total income loss for the state in the agricultural sector this year could be around Rs 226.50 crore. Of this, the highest loss will be in rice production to the tune of Rs 211.41 crore which accounts for 93.36 per cent of the total agriculture and allied activities followed by livestock farming, the release stated.  

Of the five crisis-hit valley districts including Bishnupur, Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching, and Thoubal, Bishnupur district is the worst-affected in terms of agricultural land area comprising 5,288 hectares, constituting 54.4 per cent of the total land area of 9,718 hectares, followed by Imphal East with 1,770 hectares and Imphal West respectively, the DIPR release said.
 
Bishnupur district, which shares a boundary with Churachandpur, has been one of the most vulnerable districts. Farmers of Phubala, Sunusiphai, Naranseina, Khoirentak, Kumbi, Sagang, Torbung, Wangoo, and Khoijuman Khunou villages are among the worst hit and some of them have even sustained bullet injuries.
 
A team of LOUSAL led by its president, Mutum Churamani, who had come to take stock of the situation at Phubala said, “The current situation is such that our farmers are back to square one. Despite the security arrangements, they fear to venture out to the fields to take care of their crops. Since the beginning of violence on May 3 this year, the farmers were uncertain of going to their fields as they are located mostly near the foothills from where intermittent firing often takes place. By July this year, with security arrangements, we somehow managed to send our farmers to initiate tilling and prepare for sowing. To that end, a state level monitoring committee was formed.”
 
The state-level monitoring committee to mitigate the crisis in the agriculture sector was formed under the initiative of the state government authorities such as the Commissioner and Director of the Agriculture department, along with five other farmers’ bodies. Following the advice of the committee, the Manipur government started providing security cover to protect the farmers during the monsoon “kharif” season for agricultural work. For the purpose, around 2,000 security personnel had been diverted by downgrading the VIP security cover with district commissioners of the affected districts appealing to the farming community not to venture out for farming activities without proper security arrangements considering the volatile situation, the release added.
 
Oinam Brajalala, a farmer from Naransaina village said, “The security forces deployed at the foothills have denied access to the paddy fields located above the high canal. They have declared the area as a ‘red zone.’ We are not certain if we would be able to harvest however little paddy we have grown. The water for irrigation has been diverted away by the miscreants. Without water, how is cultivation possible? We do not know when they will stop firing towards the field from their bunkers.”
 
Demanding adequate crop compensation from the government over the impending loss, Brajalala said that the daily wage labourers will also be hard-hit if there is no harvesting. “Most of us are tenant farmers and we will be under huge debt. We cannot even send our cattle to graze in the fields,” he rued.
 
Agriculture Commissioner of Manipur, RK Dinesh Singh while commending LOUSAL for conducting an independent survey and for serving as a bridge between the farmers and the department maintained that the agriculture department in order to mitigate the current crisis has already swung into action and approached the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for funding a crop compensation package as relief for the affected farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by the ethnic violence, the DIPR release further stated.
 
“The department has proposed to the MHA for a package of Rs 38.06 crore as crop compensation. The good news is that the proposal has been accepted by the ministry. Our priority is to speed up the process of releasing the relief package to the affected farmers as soon as possible, at least by the month of November,” Singh said.
 
Admitting that there will be divergence regarding the data of crisis-affected paddy fields between the one prepared by the government and the farmers’ body depending on the time of the survey, methodology employed for estimating the crop yield loss as well as the changing dynamics of the current crisis, the agriculture commissioner reiterated that the government’s priority is speedy financial relief for the affected farmers, the release stated.
 
Funded wholly by the MHA, the compensation package of Rs 38.06 crore will cover over 5,127 hectares of severely affected agricultural areas identified in the month of June 2023 by the agriculture department as areas likely to remain uncultivated due to the present situation, including 539 hectares in Imphal West, 633 hectares in Imphal East, 37 hectares in Jiribam, 597.83 hectares in Senapati, 581 hectares in Thoubal, 273.35 hectares in Chandel, 2,191 hectares in Bishnupur and 275 hectares in Churachandpur districts, the release stated.
 
Singh revealed that the estimated loss for over 5,127 hectares is calculated as Rs 38.06 crore using the average crop yield for the affected districts for the last three years and areas where cultivation may not be possible. He also pointed out that the final numbers of farmers to be compensated will be subjected to verification of the affected farmers being conducted by the Deputy Commissioners of the affected districts, the DIPR release said.
 
Besides the current violence, inadequate rainfall has also worsened the crisis and Imphal East district is the worst-hit, which has around 21,630 hectares of arable land, the second largest in the valley. A farmer from the Sabam Lamyai village confided that he had tried sowing paddy seeds five consecutive times but miserably failed, it said.
 
“Due to scanty rainfall and over and above abject failure of the irrigation system, farmers like us are completely helpless this year. The agriculture department gave us fertilizers a month ago. What is the use of fertilizers if there is no water in the field,” the farmer pointed out.
 
On being asked how the agriculture department has proposed to deal with the scarcity of water, Singh admitted that it has been a major concern with the global climate crisis and the state farmers’ dependence on the monsoon rains. He maintained that it would involve both short and long-term actions to address the concerns like the adoption of different irrigation methods such as digging ponds, tube wells, and canal river lift irrigation besides others, the release added.
 
“Areas under proper irrigation are very little. We are trying to increase the area of irrigated land as a long-term plan by introducing tube wells and water ponds. For that purpose, our scheme funds have been enhanced by Rs 70 crore through the Central ministry. As a short-term plan, alternative Rabi crops would also be introduced to the farmers soon,” Singh added.

The writer is a senior independent journalist covering the Northeast.

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