Farmers upset about scanty rainfall in State
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 19 2015 : As the State has failed to receive average rainfall so far, farmers have now started worrying about their agriculture activities and production.

According to rainfall data maintained by the Directorate of Agriculture, the State has failed to receive average rainfall this year.

Last year, Manipur received 300.90 mm of rainfall in the month of June while the average rainfall received so far this year is just over 14.1 mm.

On an average, the State used to receive 280.20 mm of rainfall in June and 203.70 mm in May in the past five year.

But this year, the average rainfall of May was just 45.04 mm which has raised a serious concern for farmers.

With a grim prospect of sufficient food production, the State is now facing drought like situation.

In a study conducted by The Sangai Express, it was found that almost all the cultivable lands in Imphal valley were already tilted by farmers.

Unfortunately, deficient rainfall has made the task incomplete.

With over 23 lakh hectares of cultivable land in the State, 1,95,000 hectares of land were used for rice cultivation all over the State last year, according to the sources from the Agriculture Department.

S Tomba, farmer from Yaralpat Loukol stated that all the farmers in the State depend on monsoon rain and the late arrival of rain this year can disrupt the crop production.

"All the farm lands are well-prepared, it is just the rain we have been waiting for," he added.

In a brief interaction with the Director of Agriculture, Manipur, Louis Ngasainao on any contingency plan for crop production, he maintained that the Department has formulated some backup plan if the State faces acute shortage of rainfall this year.

Continuing that the Agriculture Department is prepared to distribute seeds of 'short term crops' like black gram, pulses, horse gram etc to farmers, Louis stated that the Department is in an alert situation so that the farmers do not go hungry.

He added that the 'Seed-Rolling Plan' which was signed last year would come in handy to distribute quality seeds to the farmers.

He further said that the Department has also taken up steps to build 'Check Dam' .

Check dams are small, temporary structures constructed across a swale or channel used to slow the velocity of concentrated water flows in all rivers or channels to provide water for irrigation and help reduce erosion.

Maintaining that the Department has stocked up 15,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer to be distributed to farmers at a subsidized rate, Louis added that Rs 3.75 crores of fund is already kept aside to help farmers cope up with the loss incurred if there is inadequate rainfall in the State.

He stated that if the rice cultivation fails due to drought, the Department will do whatever it takes to help suffice hunger.

With water harvesting system not well maintained in the State, the Agriculture Department has started maintaining farm ponds in every district to retain rain water, he added.

He also said that the Department will propose the State Government to take up initiative to harvest and stock up water for cultivation in the State.

He mentioned that with the changing climatic condition due to global warming, environment has changed to a great extent.

He urged the people to protect forests areas, which contribute in maintaining the ecological balance.

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