Unknown pest attack hits paddy crop in Marou
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang
Ukhrul, October 05 2022:
Paddy farmers of Marou village in Kamjong district are left staring at a failed harvest as standing crops withered following attack from an unknown pest.
Local farmers informed that the scale of the pest attack was unprecedented with the infestation sweeping across the entire terrace paddy plantation sites of the village.
Marou headman Ramkahao Awungshi said that there is little hope of paddy crop harvest for the villagers this year.
"Most of the farmers have now abandoned their pest-infested paddy fields since they have lost hope of any harvest," he said.
There had been similar pest attacks of paddy in the past but this year's has been the worst, he said.
He said that around 30 per cent of the 116 households in the village are into paddy cultivation and are the worst-affected lot due to the pest attack, and added that the rest of the households are engaged in vegetable farming.
A local farmer, named Wunganing, who owns a paddy farm, said that his field normally yields around 200 tins of paddy but this year, hope of harvesting even 20 per cent of the yield is dwindling.
He said that the infestation was first noticed in August after many standing crops started drying from leaves down to the roots, though the pest is invisible to the naked eye.
He continued that the infestation then spread to the entire major paddy cultivation sites of the village including Zurulam and Akhuram.
"Since we are dependent of the paddy crop, harvest failure would mean an economic disaster for many poor farmers like me," Wunganing said.
He then urged the authorities concerned to look into the plights of the villagers and extend necessary assistance at the earliest in order to compensate the crop failure.