The Union government has approved a crop compensation package of Rs 38.06 crore for farmers affected by the ethnic violence in Manipur, reported The Times of India on Sunday.

The package will cover 5,127.08 hectares of land identified as “areas likely to remain uncultivated due to present situation” in eight districts.

Manipur has been witnessing ethnic clashes between the Kuki and Meitei communities since early May, resulting in over 200 deaths and nearly 60,000 persons fleeing their homes. The crisis has also left thousands of farmers unable to cultivate their lands out of fear of violence.

The crop compensation package was finalised on the basis of a survey conducted by Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup, a farmers’ body in Manipur, The Hindu reported. The survey estimated that the paddy crop could fail on 9,719 hectares of land on the periphery of the Imphal Valley as farmers are afraid to go to their fields because of the threat of violence.

The farmers’ body said that among the valley districts, Bishnupur, Imphal East and Imphal West were the worst affected ones in terms of crop losses.

“The current situation is such that our farmers are back to square one,” said Mutum Churamani, the president of the Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup. “Despite the security arrangements, they fear to venture out to the fields to take care of the paddy plants.”

Farmers in the peripheral villages in the strife-torn districts of Kangpokpi, Imphal West, Imphal East, Kakching, Churachandpur and Bishnupur told Scroll in July that they were apprehensive about going to their fields due to indiscriminate firing in the areas.

The state government in July deployed security forces in vulnerable places along the hill-valley border so that farming activities could continue, but large tracts of land still remained abandoned.

State officials had said that this dented paddy production and could lead to a “huge loss for a small state like Manipur”.

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In Manipur, relentless gunfire has delayed the all-important paddy crop