Plight of the peasants in the hills of Manipur

Similarly, 55-year-old Chongkeng Haolai gets about rupees 500 in a day, whereas, 60-year-old Hoikhoneng Chongloi gets about rupees 15000 as annual profit. This is discouraging farming activity in the hills as farming is no longer seen as a productive enterprise. The middlemen who have better networking or connection or capital are able to gain in a day (or half a day), the same amount as the peasant who had investedmonths of labour and capital in the production of the vegetables.
Concluding Remarks
Though the study could only focus on the Kukis, the plight of the peasants or the small land holding farmers or landless farm laborers is similar across the different communities of Manipur. It is a common knowledge that the rural villages in Manipur have witnesses a shift toward non-farm enterprises, in which there is a largescale migration towards towns or even cities to seek better employment prospects. But in the discourse of development, there are a few sections of the rural poor, who are left outwithout options, still wholly dependent on farming as their primary source of livelihood. It is pertinent for the state to intervene to ensure that they receive a fair price for their produce. In many cases, the simple-minded rural peasants are ill equipped to negotiate with the crafty middlemen who are well-versed in business diplomacy. The peasants easily give in to the middlemen’s bargain over their produce, undermining the fact that it was the yield of their one year of labour. The dependency now becomes unbalanced as the transaction is not so profitable for them. As they are unskilled for any other trade or profession and lack capital of any kind, they have no alternative option other than to continue farming and be content with the meager outcome of their agricultural production. A respondent asserts, Keiholhoulhohohi min einehmang u hibou chu(our hard work in cultivating the fields does not benefit us much. We are shortchanged by others)summing up their condition in a single sentence. The production for market and the introduction of the illiterate peasants to commercial market economy have made them a vulnerable prey of the middlemen who exploit them in the business transaction. Thus, one reason behind the dwindling interest of the peasants in agriculture could be because it is no longer considered a beneficialenterprise. This is despite the fact that they have no alternative career or source of livelihood to fall back on.
The study concludes that the peasants need to be encouraged by the state keeping in mind their important contribution to the state’s economy. It is important to take initiative in making them take pride in the farming profession. It hopes to influence the policies of the state in instituting a farmer’s market (Rythu Bazar Model of Hyderabad) at strategic locations in the hills of Manipur where the farmers can directly sell their produce at a fair price to the consumer, thus eliminating the role of the middlemen. The state should develop a mechanism for regulating the prices of the produce thus ensuring that they get their due in the overall transaction. Moreover, there should be awareness programs and state aid to control plant pests and diseases affecting food crops to minimize the losses of the farmers.
Dr Hoineilhing Sitlhou-Sampar ([email protected])teaches at the University of Hyderabad and T. Shokhothang Haokip([email protected]) is the Headmaster of 2 in 1 Omega Public School & Kindergarten. They would like to thank all the respondents, including  HenginlenKipgen. The fieldwork has been funded by UGC-SAP, Dept. of Sociology, University of Hyderabad.