(in): Rodent army cleans up Mizoram farmlands

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lINK: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080114/jsp/guwahati/story_8779423.jsp

 

*Rodent army cleans up Mizoram farmlands*

* - Fear of famine courses through state as rats shift attention from paddy

to vegetables*

 

OUR CORRESPONDENT

 

Silchar, Jan. 13: High on energy after a carbohydrate-rich diet (read

paddy), a rampaging army of rats has turned its attention to vegetables in

farms across Mizoram.

 

Pumpkin, chilli, papaya, tomato, cabbage and squash — the rodents are

devouring anything green and growing in acres and acres of land, forcing

farmers as well as the agriculture department to press the panic button.

Vegetable growers in Aizawl, Kolosib, Mamit, Thingdawl and Sherchip cannot

decide whether to count their losses or run to the nearest shop for rat

poison.

 

Half-eaten fruits and vegetables are all that remain after the army of rats

leaves after the feast. It is a sad sight for anyone who has seen Mizoram's

productive landscape and the toil of the farmers. Squash alone is grown in

about 32,000 hectares in this tint state. The annual output of this

succulent vegetable, popular across the Northeast, is 28,000 tonnes.

 

The question Mizos are asking of the government now is whether the *mautam (

*famine) they have been dreading for years has finally struck.

 

For those not familiar with the *mautam *cycle, it is a season of

destruction triggered by a season of bloom in bamboo groves. After

flowering, the bamboo dies and regenerates from the seeds. The rodents feast

on the seeds that are available in plenty. The feast leads to sudden boom in

the rat population.

 

Some experts believe that the bamboo flower, which blooms once in 50 years,

increases the fertility of rodents. Most explanations point to the fact that

the increase in their numbers during the peak year is a natural after-effect

of the flowering of the bamboo.

 

Records from the British Raj indicate that Mizoram faced famine in 1862 and

again in 1911. On both occasions, the region had witnessed bamboo flowering

of the kind that the state has seen in the past year.

 

In each case, records suggest that the flowering of the bamboo leads to a

dramatic increase in the local rat population. The increase led to raids on

granaries and the destruction of paddy fields, and subsequently to a

year-long famine.

 

The 1958–1959 *mautam *killed at least 100 people, besides causing heavy

loss to property and crops.

 

Cut to 2008. The rats have not changed their occupation and the

administration, too, is still as clueless about ways to deal with the

disaster.

 

James Lalsiamliana, the plant protection officer of the state agriculture

department, said the government employees have now been asked to make an

estimate of total quantum of loss of vegetable growers.

 

About 72.5 per cent of farmer population in the state living in 659 villages

have been affected by *mautam*. The rats ate up 38247.1 tonnes of paddy last

year, since the flowering began.

 

Though estimates for loss of vegetables have been asked for, the government

is yet to decide if the vegetable growers would also be compensated for

their loss from the coffers of the Bamboo Flowering and Famine Combat Scheme

(Baffacos).

 

 

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