Rodent menace forces Tamenglong villagers to stare at starvation
Source: The Sangai Express / Addie Chiphang

Tamenglong, October 12 2012: Tamenglong distict is once again in the news for no other than woeful tale of natural calamities.

And this time, with barely a tin of paddy harvested this season, one farmer of Taningjam village has this to ask "What do we eat for the rest of the year?" .

This is an analogous story throughout the entire Sub-Division of Tousem in Tamenglong district.

There is nothing to be cultivated as the entire paddy has been totally destroyed in almost all the villages by rodents.

Rodent menace is nothing new in this area.

Some years back, there was a similar rodent menace which had been managed by issuing some immediate relief measures in the form of rice, probably neglecting a long term solution.

In the subsequent years, bamboo flowering multiplied the numbers of rodents thus furthering their destructive activities on paddy and other crops.

In some of the villages, there is almost zero harvest including the entire Magulong circle comprising over nine villages like Taningjam, Phellong, Inem, Impa, Magulong, Ningjing, etc, and those at Tousem and Saramba circles.

A lady stands at a paddy plantation site affected by rodent menace

Villages like Tousem, Mandeu, Aben, Thuilon, Saramba have not only lost all the harvests, but also had to compromise with the devastation of all their vegetable fields by the recent flash flood caused by heavy rainfall.

While talking with this reporter, the villagers of these areas said that crop harvesting usually takes about a month or so but this year as there is nothing left to cultivate, many farmers ended up collecting straw in a day or two with utterly nothing to bring home.

It is only the tears and the sweats that they have shed for the whole year, that brings bitterness.

While most of these badly affected villages are not even motorable for most part of the years, there would be no alternatives to supply rice.

The villagers would be forced to carry rice from Tamenglong headquarters on their back.

Obviously, carrying over 30-40 kgs on their backs and walking to their respective villages for over 40-50 kms, has become their regular activities on daily basis for all these years.

At the moment they would be forced to do the same if the Government do not come to their rescue.

The villagers further said that district authority concerned has been informed about the plights of the people of these areas, now it's only to wait and see if the Government seriously listens to their cry else there may be a situation similar to famine or close to one such where there may be case of starvation related disasters.