Manipur moots crop compensation package for violence-affected farmers

Guwahati: The Manipur government has come up with a crop compensation package of ₹38.06 crore for farmers affected by the ethnic violence. It is estimated that the total income loss in the agricultural sector for the state could be ₹226.50 crore.

An independent survey conducted by Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup, a farmers' body, claimed that a total of around 9,719 hectares of paddy fields in the valley could face crop failure as farmers are afraid of going into the fields because of sporadic firing from the lower foothills. Of the five crisis-hit valley districts - Bishnupur, Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching and Thoubal - Bishnupur is the worst affected, followed by Imphal East and Imphal West, as per the report.

Manipur's agriculture commissioner RK Dinesh Singh in a statement said the department has approached the Union home ministry for funding a crop compensation package for the affected farmers. "The department has proposed to the Ministry of Home Affairs a package of ₹38.06 crore as crop compensation. The good news is that the proposal has been accepted by the ministry. Our priority is to speed up the process of releasing the package to the affected farmers as soon as possible, at least by November."