US aid of $50,000 for Mizoram

Kolkata, May 17 (PTI) - The United States will provide an assistance of $50,000 to the Mizoram government to tide over the food crisis caused due to large-scale crop destruction by an infestation of rats during cyclical flowering of a special species of bamboo every 48 years. 

Stating that over 30,000 families were facing a food crisis, including 10,000 most severely, a US Consulate release here said, the US government, following the American Embassy’s declaration of disaster, would provide assistance of $50,000 for food crisis victims in affected areas of Mizoram.

The funds would be released through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the office of the US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) to the international NGO “Save The Children”.

Seeds of fruit from bamboo flowers attract rats living in jungles in large numbers which results in the proliferation of the rodents and insects and subsequent destruction of standing crops and stored grain leading to famine or “mautam” as it is locally known.

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