Rice productivity may fall by 68,000 MT
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 19 2015:
On account of the extensive floods which inundated several lakh hectares of paddy fields in different parts of the State in June and July, the State's annual rice productivity is likely to fall by around 68,000 MT.
Out of the State's total paddy fields covering 1,95,000 hectares, 33,421 hectares were affected by floods.
Agriculture Director Louis Ngasainao told The Sangai Express that a DPR of Rs five crore has been forwarded to the State Government for submission to the Government of India to cultivate compensatory crops (rabi crops) in order to make up the shortfalls in rice yield.
Taking due note of the difficulties faced by farmers, Agriculture Department has been working to distribute Rabi crop seeds.
Mustard and pea seeds have been procured and they would be distributed to farmers once harvesting of paddy is over.
"Natural calamities like floods and droughts occur due to global warming and climate change and they would continue to occur in the future too.
As such, we have to face such disastrous phenomena with our own ingenuity and available resources", Ngasainao said.
It was Thoubal district which was worst affected by floods this year.
Altogether 19,164 hectares were affected in Thoubal district followed by Imphal East where 4881 hectares of paddy fields were ravaged by floods.
District-wise affected areas were Bishnupur 3320 hectares, Imphal West 2329 hectares, Chandel 1415 hectares, Ukhrul 1319 hectares, Tamenglong 450 hectares, Churachandpur 311 hectares and Senapati 123 hectares.
Even as the Disaster Management and Relief Department has sent a report on the extent of damages caused by flood to the Home Minister, there has been no response till date.
MoS (Home) Kiren Rijiju, during his visit to the State, stated that an inter-Ministerial team would be deputed to assess the damages caused by floods but no inter-ministerial team has ever visited Manipur since the MoS (Home) went back to New Delhi.