The state agricultural department has developed a crop compensation plan of Rs 38.06 crore for farmers impacted by the ethnic violence, five months after Manipur slid into ethnic warfare.

Over 5,127 hectares of severely impacted agricultural regions were identified in June 2023, and the package, which is entirely sponsored by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), would cover them.

Using the average crop production for the past three years for the affected districts and places where cultivation would not be practicable, the expected loss for more than 5,127 hectares is computed as Rs 38.06 crore.

The Deputy Commissioners of the impacted districts will perform a verification of the affected farmers before determining the precise number of farmers who would get compensation.

According to an independent survey by the farmers' organisation Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup (LOUSAL), a total of 9,719 hectares of agricultural fields in the valley may experience crop failure because farmers are afraid to enter their paddy fields because of sporadic shooting by armed thugs from the lower foothills.

While praising LOUSAL for conducting an independent survey and for acting as a liaison between the department and the farmers, Manipur's Agriculture Commissioner RK Dinesh Singh emphasised that the department had already sprang into action to address the current crisis and had approached the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for funding a crop compensation package as relief for the affected farmers whose livelihoods were being threatened by the ethnic violence.

Source - https://www.indiatodayne.in