Tamei reels under rodent menace
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 09 2012:
It is a bad year for most farmers in Tamei sub division of Tamenglong district, thanks to rodent menace and scanty rainfall.
Farmers in despair informed Newmai News Network that the poor harvest would mean another spell of hardship in the coming year.
"I used to get 200 mustard oil tins (a standard scale to measure paddy in the area) or even more of paddy every year but this harvest has disappointed by family," said a farmer of Lenglong village.
He said it was the rodent onslaught in the month of March-April and then the scanty rainfall in the later parts.
With a heart rending voice the farmer wonders if any alternative means to earn a livelihood is there for him.
NK Kengtalakbou, chairman of Illeng (Nreng) village has similar story to narrate.
According to him, he used to harvest around 150 mustard oil tins in the past but this year he managed to get only 40 tins.
"How can we manage to pass off to meet the next harvest?" asks the Nreng village chairman.
Predicting that bleak days are ahead, NK Kengtalakbou rues that had it not been the rats and the failed rainfall there would have been a normal harvest.
There are 126 households in Illeng village (Nreng) with a population of 1373 people, according to the village chief.
"Almost all the families in my village experienced the very poor harvest and we the village elders are contemplating to find out to solve our problem at the moment," stated NK Kengtalakbou.
He recounted that rats had played the spoil-sport during the planting period.
"And later, these rats again started attacking the standing crops," narrated the village chief while adding, "At the time when the crops needed water, there was no rainfall and hence the poor harvest." NK Kengtalakbou then appeals fervently to the concerned authorities to address their woes on humanitarian ground.
Reports have also been pouring in farmers in Lenglong village (Nrianglong) and its adjoining villages are also experiencing the same poor harvest.
Villagers of Makuinong and Lenglong expressed their lamentations saying that the poor harvest would mean a gloomy year.
Lenglong village is roughly 25 kilometres north of west of the sub division headquarters Tamei and Illeng (Nreng is situated some 36 kilometres away from the headquarters.
Due to deplorable road condition transporting of rice from the towns to these villages is another burden.
Forget about the inter village roads, the I.T Road that connects the subdivisional headquarters Tamei to Imphal is also extremely in poor shape.
"You take longer time to travel between Imphal and Tamei than from Dimapur to Imphal," said Laan alias Kumar, a taxi driver.
Potholes and boulders become quite problematic for the negotiating transporters in this narrow I.T Roads.