Swarms of grasshoppers destroyed paddy crops
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, June 07 2009:
Villagers of eight villages in Ukhrul district are reported to be facing acute shortage of food owing to the failure of harvest paddy crop in the last season.
Information regarding the food scarcity being faced by the villagers of the eight villages located at the western side of the Phungyar sub-division of Ukhrul district was conveyed to a visiting team comprising reporters of Imphal based media houses and volunteers of the Information for Hills Areas, Manipur (ICHAM).
The spot inspection was organised after officials of the ICHAM were informed by the Tangkhul Youth Council, they said.
The eight villages facing scarcity of food owing to failure of the crops includes Kumram (Ngaprum), Patbung, nongman, Sorbun, Sorathem, Sorde, Aleng and Phungyar village.
Villagers gave the reasons behind the failure of the paddy crop as mass destruction of the paddy crop by the grasshoppers at the fruit bearing stage and not growing well after rice seeds were sown to the fields.
As usual, in the last season also, they sowed paddy seeds in their fields in the traditional way with spade digging the earth.
But a large part of the seeds failed to grow up.
Some plants that sprouted were also attacked by the grasshoppers.
Concern over the failure of the crops, village authorities approached the DC, Ukhrul district to help them by providing relief materials.
But it was in vain, they added.
Now, villagers have finished up all the rice stokes in their bowls stored from previous season.
At this stage, villagers are efforting to earn livelihood by doing day to day available works.
With the money they got from 100 days work under the NREGS and wages at the rate of Rs 101 per working day from the special package, villagers are feeding their respective families.
But, with the completion of the works under these programmes, villagers have started leaving their villages with a view to get earning to other places.
In such conditions, faith of the villagers with regard to cultivation works.
Village women are earning daily bread by selling bananas, fruits and other editable items available in the surrounding of the villages.
Even though, the extra earning of families were used in bearing expenditure for children's learning, they could not bear it and now they are unable to provide fees for children.
Children could not be sent to school unable to afford their admission fees.
Many children left school and helping their parents to earning livelihoods, villagers expressed with dissatisfaction.
The team held interaction with the village headmen and authorities like Thotdreingam of Kumram village, headman CT Mashailing of Patbung village, headman of Nongman village, Echmen Sovio, secretary Ngoumi jojo of Sorbung village, chairman of the Sorathem village, Chipenji Keishing, secretary of Sorde village A honpam, chairman of Aleng village AS Janggai and headman of Phungyar village AS Shimrayshang.
At the end part of the tour, president of the Tangkhul Youth Council, Janyo Varam said that villagers are facing the woes for such a long time as authority of the government neglected them.
He also appealed the government to provide relief to the villagers so that they could get relief from the woes at least to some extend.
He further urged the authority to provide the relief materials at the earliest before the rain showers started as except Phungyar village, other remaining seven villages have to be disconnected with outside worlds as there were no proper road communications to reach the villages.
Around 3,970 heads of the eight villages are suffering from food scarcity.
Kumram village has population of 475, Patbung has 250, nongmen has 450, Sorbun has700, sorden has 145, Sorde has 430, Aleng has 220 and Phungyar has around 1,300, he counted.