Several farmer bodies in Manipur have urged the state government to conduct a survey of the affected cultivation land due to the ongoing crisis in the state and to arrange alternative crops for farmers.
Talking to media persons at Manipur Press Club on Tuesday, LOUSAL president Mutum Churamani said that the government is yet to conduct a survey to find out the affected cultivation areas due to the ongoing crisis in the state.
However, LOUSAL, along with other farmers’ bodies, including Irabot Foundation Manipur, Kangleipak Progressive Farmers Association (KAPFA), and the All-Manipur Progressive Farmers Association, have found out that a total of 9,619 hectors of agricultural land has been affected, he informed.
Churamani said that the said agricultural land produces over 106 lakh metric ton of rice per harvesting. This means that Manipur will lose the production which is estimated around Rs 267 crore, he said.
He informed that Bishnupur is the most hard-hit district with around 5,288 hectares of cultivation land affected; 1771 hectares in Imphal East;1765 hectares in Imphal West; 377 hectares in Thoubal and 418 hectares of agricultural land in Kakching district.
Churamani added that horticulture, veterinary, fishery and sericulture sectors have also been severely affected in the ongoing crisis.
Total loss in the horticulture sector is estimated to be over Rs 50.8 crore; over Rs 36.6 crore in veterinary sector; over Rs 24.06 crore in fishery sector and over Rs 9.35 crore in sericulture sector, he informed.
LOUSAL and other farmer bodies have urged the government to compensate the farmers on their loss by conducting a survey at the earliest and to arrange alternative crops for the farmers for recovery of the loss.
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