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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Manipur rice bowl dwindles by Khelen Thokchom

Manipur rice bowl dwindles by Khelen Thokchom

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published Published on Jun 6, 2010   modified Modified on Jun 6, 2010


Manipur households may find it difficult to fill their plates with rice next year, with the ongoing economic blockade robbing farmers of essential fuel to run their tilling machines.

The food and civil supplies godown now has 7,132 metric tonnes of rice while the Indian Oil Corporation in Imphal has 1,223 kilo litres of diesel.

The rice will last for a month, while the diesel can keep the state running for the next six days.

The stocks will be replenished next month.

“The situation is, indeed, very grim. The farmers are yet to till their fields though they have enough water. Diesel is not available. Tractors and power tillers remain idle. Unless the diesel supply is restored, Manipur could face an acute shortage of rice next year,” N. Iboton Singh, dean of Central Agriculture University of Imphal, said.

The blockade imposed by the All Naga Students Association, Manipur on the state’s supply lifelines — Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam highways — began on April 11 midnight, to protest holding of elections to the six Autonomous District Councils in the five hill districts.

It intensified after the Okram Ibobi Singh government refused to allow National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) general secretary Th. Muivah to enter Manipur through Mao Gate in Senapati district on May 6.

The government extended a formal invitation to the students’ union for talks two weeks ago, but there has been no response till today.

The situation worsened after the Naga Students Federation launched a blockade of Manipur vehicles in Nagaland.

The Nagaland government asked the Manipur government not to send its vehicles to the state till the situation normalised. But by the time the situation “normalises”, the fuel crisis will have taken its toll on paddy farms.

Manipur has a total rice cropping area of 2,33,400 hectares, with the average annual rice production around 521 tonnes.

Since the state’s requirement is around 621.35 tonnes of rice, the shortfall is filled with rice supplied by the Food Corporation of India.

Officials in the agriculture department said 30 to 40 per cent of the total rice production in the state is wasted annually in brewing country liquor and in feasts.

Though there is no official survey of the percentage of fields tilled and seeds sown till now, it is estimated that only about 20 per cent of the total cropping area has been tilled so far.

Since farmers no longer use bullocks to till their fields, the fuel crisis has stalled farm operations.

“I have three acres. I managed to till one-and-a-half acres. I do not know how to till the remaining half. I started using a spade. But I don’t know whether I could do it alone with a spade. I don’t have the money to engage a tractor or power tiller though I know where diesel is available. I am really worried that my family will face starvation next year. The government should do something to ease the supply of diesel,” L. Rajen Singh, a farmer from Imphal West, said.

One litre of diesel usually costs Rs 31.80. Since the crisis, it is being sold at Rs 80 to Rs 100 per litre in the black market.

In the black market, too, it is not freely available.

As a result, the cost for tilling has also gone up considerably. Earlier, tilling an acre would cost Rs 300 to Rs 350. It has now gone up to Rs 700 to Rs 800 per acre.

The problem does not end with tilling either. Those who had already sown the seeds, do not have fertilisers.

“As the government has failed to normalise the supply, I can predict a famine next year,” Nimai Chand Luwang, president of Opposition Manipur Peoples Party, said.

Agriculture minister N. Loken Singh and officials at the agriculture department, however, said there was still time to till and plant seedlings.

“It is now only June first week. We could plant the seedlings up to late August. We are hoping that things will normalise within this month or next month,” a senior official in the agriculture department said.

Loken Singh assured the farmers that special arrangements would be made for providing diesel to tractors and power tillers.

He also said steps would be taken to bring in adequate fertilisers.

Food and civil supplies minister Yumkham Erabot Singh, on the other hand, said for the present, there was enough rice stock. He said steps would be taken to get more FCI rice if this year’s rice cultivation failed.

The monthly quota Manipur gets from the FCI is about 7,880 tonnes.

A majority of households, including farmers and landowners, also have their own stock in their larders.

Muivah cases

A lawyer in the Imphal bench of Gauhati High Court has demanded that Manipur police publish all the pending cases against NSCN (I-M) leader Thuingaleng Muivah in any of the courts in the state through newspapers.

In the representation, A. Charanjan Sharma quoted “reliable sources” to claim that there were many cases pending against Muivah in connection with various crimes such as dacoity, murder, extortion and kidnapping.


The Telegraph, 6 June, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100607/jsp/frontpage/story_12537767.jsp


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