Centre okays Rs 38.06 Cr relief package for farmers
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, October 01 2023: Five months since Manipur descended into a spiral of conflict coupled with inadequate rainfall pointing to a probable failure of crop, the Centre has okayed a Rs 38.06 crore relief package for farmers.

The State Agriculture Department had sent a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking Rs 38.06 crore as crop compensation package.

The Ministry has accepted the proposal.

Now, 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, said Agriculture Commissioner RK Dinesh.

Centre okays Rs 38.06 Cr relief package for farmers

An independent survey conducted by Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup (LOUSAL), a farmers' body, claimed that a total area of around 9,719 hectares (Ha) of paddy fields in the valley could be facing crop failure as farmers are afraid to go to the fields because of sporadic firing by the armed miscreants at the foothills.

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 extent of Rs 211.41 crore which accounts for 93.36% of total agriculture and allied activities followed by livestock farming.

Of the five crisis hit districts in the valley (Bishnupur, Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching and Thoubal), Bishnupur is the worst affected district.

The violent crisis has affected/wasted 5,288 Ha of agricultural land in Bishnupur district which constitutes 54.4% of the total land area affected (9,718 Ha) .

1770 Ha of agricultural land has been affected in Imphal East and 1765 Ha in Imphal West.

Bishnupur district, which shares boundary with Churachandpur, has been one of the most vulnerable districts.

Phubala, Sunusiphai, Naranseina, Khoirentak, Kumbi, Sagang, Torbung, Wangoo and Khoijuman Khunou are some of the worst hit areas in Bishnupur.

Farmers have constantly come under fire from miscreants, and some of them have even sustained bullet injuries while tending to their fields.

A team of LOUSAL led by its president, Mutum Churamani, who visited Phubala to take stock of the situation 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 the paddy plants" .

Churamani informed that since the beginning of violence in May, the farmers were uncertain of going to the fields as they are located mostly near the foothills, wherefrom intermittent firing takes place.

He said, "By July, with the formation of a State level monitoring committee and security arrangements, we somehow managed to send our farmers to start tilling and prepare for sowing" .

It may be mentioned that the State Level Monitoring Committee to mitigate the crisis in the farm sector was formed under the initiative of the State Government authorities such as the Commissioner and Director of the Agriculture Department, along with five farmers' bodies.

Following the advice of the committee, the Manipur Government started providing security cover to protect farmers during the monsoon kharif season for agricultural work.

VIP security covers were downgraded and 2,000 personnel were diverted to provide security to farmers.

Oinam Brajalala, a farmer from Naranseina, said that security forces deployed at the foothills denied the farmers access to the paddy fields located above the high canal.

"They have declared the area as 'red zone'.

We are not certain if we would be able to harvest whatever little paddy we have sown.

Miscreants have diverted irrigation water and there is shortage of water.

We don't know when they will stop firing at the farmers and towards the field from their bunkers," he said.

Demanding adequate crop compensation from the Government over the impending loss, Brajalala said that daily wage labourers will also be hard hit if there is no harvesting.

"Most of us are tenant farmers.

We will be under huge debt.

What have we come to? We can't even send our cattle to graze in the fields," he rued.

Agriculture Commissioner, 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 for funding a crop compensation package as relief for affected farmers whose livelihoods have been threatened by the ethnic violence.

"The Department has proposed to the Ministry of Home Affairs 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," RK Dinesh said.

Admitting that the data of the affected paddy fields prepared by the Government may differ from the one prepared by 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 said that the Government's priority is providing speedy financial relief to the affected farmers.

Funded wholly by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the compensation package of Rs 38.06 crore will cover for 5127.08 Ha of severely affected agricultural areas identified in June by the Agriculture Department as "areas likely to remain uncultivated due to present (ethnic violence) situation" .

The 5127.08 Ha include 539 Ha in Imphal West, 633 Ha in Imphal East, 37 Ha in Jiribam, 597.83 in Senapati, 581 Ha in Thoubal, 273.35 Ha in Chandel, 2191 Ha in Bishnupur and 275 Ha in Churachandpur district.

The Agriculture Commissioner stated that the estimated loss for the 5127.08 Ha was projected to be Rs 38.06 crore when studying the average crop yield of the affected districts in the last three years.

He said that the final numbers of farmers to be compensated will be subjected to verification being conducted by the Deputy Commissioners of the affected districts.

While the agricultural fields across several districts are affected by the current crisis, inadequate rainfall has hit worst Imphal East district, which has around 21,630 Ha of arable land, the second largest in the valley region.

A farmer from Sabam Lamyai village confided that he has tried sowing paddy seeds five consecutive times without any success due to shortage of rainfall/irrigation water.

"Due to scanty rain, and abject failure of the irrigation system, farmers like us are completely helpless this year.

The Agriculture Department gave us fertilizers a month back.

What's the use of the fertilizers if there is no water in the field," he said.

When asked how the Agriculture Department is proposing to deal with water scarcity, Commissioner RK Dinesh admitted that it has been a major concern with the global climate crisis and the State farmers' dependence on monsoon rain.

He maintained that it would involve both short & long term action plans to address the concern including adoption of different irrigation methods such as digging ponds, tube wells, canal river lift irrigation etc.

"Only some areas have proper irrigation.

We are trying to increase the area of irrigated land by introducing tube wells and water ponds.

For this purpose, funds have been enhanced by Rs 70 crore through the Central Ministry," RK Dinesh said.

As a short-term plan, alternative Rabi crops would also be introduced to the farmers soon, he added.