Crops worth Rs 5.42 Cr destroyed by floods
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 24 2025: Horticulture crops worth Rs 5.42 core were destroyed by the floods which ravaged the State in the last week of May and the beginning of the current month, according to Horticulture and Soil Conservation Director K Devdutta Sharma.

Speaking to media persons at his Sanjenthong office today, Devdutta said that District Horticulture Officers have submitted assessment reports of the damages inflicted by the floods in Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and Thoubal.

Similar data were also collected from hill districts affected by flash floods, landslides and mudslides, he said.

The field assessment survey report covered 530 farmers affected by the floods.

According to the field assessment survey reports, horticulture crops cultivated on 151 paris of farmlands were affected by the floods 75 per cent to 100 per cent, Devdutta said.

The monetary value of the horticulture crops destroyed by the floods in the valley districts and hill districts of Manipur is around 5.42 crore, he said.

One of the crops destroyed by the floods is high-value U-Morok.

The U-Morok had fully matured and were ready for harvesting when they were destroyed by the floods, he said.

Other crops destroyed by the floods included watermelon, ash gourd, pumpkin, gourd and sponge gourd or loofah.

Large fields of cabbages planted in hill areas were also destroyed by the floods, Devdutta said.

Exuding confidence that the State Government would pay compensation to farmers for the crops destroyed by the floods, he said that the Government would release the crop compensation from the Disaster Management Fund and other relevant funds.

The Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department has no funds to pay compensation to farmers for crops destroyed by floods but the department has a market intervention scheme.

When farmers cannot find markets for their produces or their produces are facing the prospect of getting perished, the department will buy the produces from the fanners and sell them at markets at cheaper prices under the market intervention scheme, Devdutta said.

About 10 metric tonnes of ash gourd, pumpkin and watermelon produced in the Kakching Khunou area which are facing the prospect of getting perished due to lack of marketing facilities were purchased by the department and sold at the Sanjenthong organic outlets over a period of 4-5 days at cheaper prices under the same scheme, he said.

On being asked if the department has any plan to intervene into marketing pineapples which are produced abundantly in the State and in view of the fact that no pineapple festival would be held this year on account of the COVID-19 outbreak, Devdutta said that the department would certainly intervene and help the farmers export pineapples.

The department will try to send the pineapples to Delhi, Kerala and even Dubai.

The department would also buy pineapples from farmers and supply them to fruit processing industries like Magfruit, Thangjam Agro Industries, Meira etc, he added.

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