State facing 2 lakh MT food deficit: IFM
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 17 2025: The violence in Manipur since May 3, 2023 has affected more than 10,000 hectares of paddy fields with the state facing food deficit of over 2 lakh metric tonne since the beginning of the violence due to non-cultivation of paddy crops in different parts of the state.

According to Irabot Foundation Manipur (IFM) president Kh Gopen Luwang, the unresolved violence in Manipur continues to severely affect the farmers and their activities with high possibility of the state facing acute food scarcity.

He explained that one Sangam of paddy field (1 Sangam = 0.2529285264 hectare) generally provides yield of at-least 24 Phoubot or 33 bags of 50 kg capacity, while cautioning that the unrest situation for over two years affecting 10,000 hectare paddy lands is serious cause of concern.

Even though the government compensated around 50 percent of the violence-affected paddy lands, a farmer had to spend no less than Rs 3,000 to avail the nominal compensation amount.

Accordingly, farmers make no substantial gain out of the government assistance compared to the losses they suffered in two years, Gopen said.

He also informed media persons during an interaction that majority of the rural population survives on agricultural and allied activities.

As such, disturbances caused to agricultural activities are major factor for suffering of the primary food producers in the state.

He also contended that in-spite of violence causing significant impact on economy of the state the present administration is still hesitant to acknowledge this fact.

Though there are two cropping seasons namely Kharif and Rabi, the government provided compensation for Kharif crop only and that too with the least amount,-while no arrangement has been made to compensate for Rabi crops.

"Before the violence, the state produced enough rice and vegetables but the state now faces food shortage due to influx of illegal migrants and deployment of large number of additional security personnel," Gopen related and noted that the state faced deficit of more than 2 lakh metric tonne food since the beginning of the violence fill date.

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