World | India
1m face famine as rats eat rice crop in Indian state
About a million people in India's northeastern state of Mizoram are facing famine after a plague of rats ate the region's entire paddy crop, officials and aid agencies said on Monday.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:57 March 17, 2008
Sateek: About a million people in India's northeastern state of Mizoram are facing famine after a plague of rats ate the region's entire paddy crop, officials and aid agencies said on Monday.
The government said the majority of villagers were now surviving on wild roots, yam and sweet potatoes with either no supply or no money to buy to their staple food of rice.
Hordes of rats swept through the forests of Mizoram, home to just under a million tribespeople, feasting on the fruits of wild bamboo, which flowers every 48 years.
Experts say that the rich protein content of the bamboo fruits increases the rats' reproductive power, and, when they finished off the fruits, the rats turned their attention to farmers' crops.
A report by international aid agency Actionaid said, "Conditions of widespread food shortage and hunger prevail in all eight districts of Mizoram," adding, "The government is reluctant to accept that the situation is rapidly slipping out of its control."
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