The lost harvests of Manipur’s conflict zones

Aug 12, 2025

Churachandpur (Manipur), 12 Aug ANI: The barren paddy fields stretching between the valley and the hills of Manipur stand as silent witnesses to the deep scars left by the ethnic violence that erupted on May 3, 2023. Once a shared space where both Kuki and Meitei farmers cultivated paddy side by side, these fields now lie abandoned.The miles-long buffer zone, carved out in the aftermath of the conflict, has turned fertile farmland into no-man’s land — off-limits due to constant security fears. In Chingphei village, we met Ngulsang, a farmer who, like many others in...