Kohima: Rows of once-lush cabbages now rot in the fields of Zhavame. The village, designated a Vegetable Village by the Nagaland Horticulture Department in 2010, faces a total marketing collapse. Over 350 households rely on this harvest for their livelihood. They have no buyers.
Ethnic tensions in neighboring Manipur throttled the supply chain. Most cabbage traditionally flows into Manipur, but travel restrictions forced farmers onto a 12-hour detour. Transport costs spiked from 12,000 rupees to 30,000 rupees per truck. Meanwhile, profit margins crashed. A bag of cabbage fetched 700 rupees last year. Now, it brings in just 180 rupees.
Modongaolu Krocha, who has marketed the crop for years, lamented the situation. "With the better quality produce, cabbage farmers were also expecting to sell better, and more," he said. The impact on local families is brutal. Some community groups stand to lose 8 lakhs of rupees while individual households face severe income cuts.
Zhavame Village Council Chairman Vivotso Domeh confirmed the scale of the disaster. "If this continues, it will be too big a loss for the village," he remarked. The harvest season runs through October, but optimism is fading. Officials from the Phek District Horticulture Office toured the ruined fields on July 7 to assess the damage. Farmers wait for government intervention to stop the bleeding.
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