Drought: Withered plants, helpless farmers

Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 6 

With Nagaland receiving short rainfall this year, paddy fields under Dhansiripar block in Dimapur are nothing but parched lands with some tracts hopelessly holding withering rice plants amidst overgrown weed. Likewise, large tracts of fields have been left either unploughed or ploughed but unplanted for want of water.

The whole area is facing shortage of water and with the monsoon rains remaining erratic and scanty, villagers are a worried lot today. The fields, which last year were nearing harvest, are nothing but unhealthy and yellow-coloured plants withering away on a parched land under a hot sun. Some peasants have stopped working in the fields out of sheer haplessness. Some tracts of fields which were once lush with paddy last year are now nothing but grazing tracts for cattle. 

N. Nagi, a 24 year old businesswoman in Urra village under Dhansiripar block, said the fields are all dying out. She said that her family at first irrigated the fields with diesel water pumps. However, after some time  the wells dried out. Now the rains are insufficient to irrigate the fields, and the plants are all dying. “The village folks are even talking that there would be lots of thieves in the village next year, if the crops fail,” said Nagi. 

In Amaluma village, the story is no  different. “Even if the rains come now, the rice plants would not bear  grains,” said Padam Kumar Thapa, who works in a 14-bigha field. Padam disclosed that he has stopped working in the field as there is no water for irrigation. He is contemplating moving out to the towns as the village has no other means of employment except cultivation. 

Pointing to a dried paddy field overgrown with unwanted weed, Thapa said paddy won’t yield any grains as it is overgrown with weeds and the land is parched. The weed  would have died if there were sufficient water in the fields, he said. “How will I feed my children,” wondered Thapa. He and others would be forced to move out of the village and find work as daily wage earners in the city to feed their families. 

The story is the same for Laxshmi Chetri, a woman in her late fifties and whose husband is crippled. She works in a field owned by a Kachari landlord. “Pani nahi hai (there is no water),” she says resignedly. Due to the shortage of water, some tracts of land remain uncultivated. She expressed apprehension that the yield would be much lesser than what she got from the 5-bighas of land last year. 

Two peasants along a road who were carrying rice saplings disclosed that the season is over. But as the landlord had asked them to plant the paddy, they are going to do it. One of them assured that the rice saplings, which were withered, would not grow even if planted. Interestingly,  farmers of the area replied in negative when queried whether any government agencies have visited the area to assess the damage.

“Till now no one has come,” said the villagers. It was informed earlier that the Agriculture department was monitoring the situation and was assessing the extent of damage caused to agriculture. “There is no news from the department so far,” a youth said. Nagaland has received 37.1 percent short rainfall till August last, and Dimapur is reported to be the worst-affected district by the delayed and deficient rains.

Nagaland Minister for Agriculture Dr. Chumben Murry has even said that the loss of agriculture production in the state, till the month of August, is to the range of an estimated Rs. 109 Crore.  With  paddy fields withering away and farmers giving up their fields out of hopelessness, the cost of agricultural and even horticultural produce is expected to go up even higher. “Whatever little they have planted…that is also destroyed. So the situation has become like a famine,” said Subot Jigdung, a primary school teacher in Amaluma village.