Blooming bamboo flowers along the Indo-Burma border since last year had attracted scores of rats that continue its search for paddy in several farms in southern Chin state. As a result, the production of rice has sharply declined in these areas.

To make things worse the rats also destroyed paddy stocks. Traditionally, Chin farmers store the collected paddy in small huts set up near the villages.        

The people living in remote areas of Paletwa Township and Matupi Township in southern Chin state are mostly affected by the famine caused by the multiplication of rats.

Normally, farmers grow 150 tins of paddy (a tin contains about 17 kilograms) from farmlands by sowing three tins of paddy. Last year the farmers grew only 25 tins from three tins.

"Around 100 households from Dar Ling village in Matupi Township are now merely surviving by having watered rice soup as their main meal", said a local from Chin state.

The military authorities in the areas are said to have arranged trucks to import rice from the central areas of Burma after the villagers had reported food crisis faced by them.

The villagers have already paid money to military authorities for purchasing the rice.

However, truck drivers are not willing to transport the rice as the road connectivity in the famine affected areas is very poor, according to a local.

"The villagers are getting depressed and are also suffering from malnutrition," he added.

Similarly, farmers from remote areas in Mizoram state of northeast India which shares its boundary with Chin state in Burma have experienced the same famine before. But Mizoram state government took preventative measures against the famine and arranged relief such as providing food, loan and compensation to the affected people. – Khonumthung.