ActionAid Update on Mizoram rat plague

20 March 2008

Tribal villages face food crisis: Worst yet to come

“My family could starve, if we do not get relief soon. How long can we forage to survive? We are walking longer into the forest each day to find anything edible” says Gulsogi, a 40-year-old widow, from Bolisora in Lawngtlai District in Mizoram.

Stories like these were narrated over and over again by distressed villagers going hungry since rats wiped out crops and grain stores, according to a fact-finding team currently visiting the worst hit areas.

Flowering of bamboo, a once-in-48-year event, triggered a rodent explosion as rats gorged on seeds, reproduced and moved on to consume any other food available.

“The onslaught has left farmers without seeds to plant next season’s crop. This will compound and prolong the food shortage,” says Mrinal Gohain of ActionAid.

No money for food

Families from tribal groups including the Chakma, Lai, Bowm, Burmese, Mara and Ksumi in villages of Chamdur Project-II, Bolisora and Hrutezwal, under Bungtlang Development block in Lawngtlai district are all facing shortages.

Government-run shops selling subsidised rice are managing to provide 35 kilos of rice for a family as per the state scheme, but only to those who can pay.

“This quota is not only insufficient but very few villagers have money to buy rice,” says Gohain.

“Close to 200 families in three villages we visited are now down to one meal a day. This is supplemented by roots dug from nearby forest supplies but these too are getting scarce,” he adds.

No work

Gulsogi, who is from the Chakma tribe, says paid work is hard to find. “My sons have been sleeping without food two days this week. They occasionally find work as porters with traders in the neighbouring villages but that is not enough,” she says.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) program is not providing sufficient safety net.

“Instead of the 100 days paid work expected, in Hrutezwal village, most families say they have got work for only 14 days this year, on a daily wage of 110 Rs.” says Gohain.

Rainy days ahead

Storage facilities in Bungtlang, Vaseikai, Vathumpui and Tuithumhnar administrative blocks, have rice stocks to see residents through the monsoon rains when poor roads and frequent landslides prevent supplies reaching.

“If buffer stocks are consumed before the rains, these villages will be particularly vulnerable,” says Gohain

Notes to editor:

ActionAid Fact Finding team is assessing needs in the most inaccessible areas of Mizoram and is preparing to deliver food to a handful of the worst affected hamlets. The agency is appealing for funds to reach more people who are short of food.

First Situational Assessment Report by ActionAid and Centre for Peace and Development, Mizoram(February 2008)

Act now to avert starvation deaths in India's North East: ActionAid

(ActionAid press release)

ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency working in over 40 countries, taking sides with poor people to end poverty and injustice together. In India, ActionAid works with communities in 24 states and two Union Territories.