The production of paddy in Nagaland, mostly grown for self-consumption, has been severely affected due to persistent drought-like conditions in the hilly state. This has caused distress among farmers and their families. The rainfall patterns in the region have considerably changed, and the state is drying up. It has been experiencing a drought-like situation due to deficit rainfall this year.Most households don’t have any mechanism to store water and depend on rivers and rivulets for water supply to their fields.
“But the water bodies have gone dry. The sowing of paddy starts in June. It is harvested in November. But most farmers couldn’t sow because of the shortage of rainfall,” said Seyie Kuotsu (35), a paddy farmer. “I have been growing paddy for the past several years but have never witnessed a situation like this before,” said Kedilezo Mkebitsu (70), who grows paddy in his two-acre land at Zhadmia village in Kohima district.