Aizawl, June 14 (PTI): With mautam (famine) caused by bamboo flowering predicted to reach its climax this year, many parts of Mizoram have witnessed an increase in the number of grasshoppers and bugs.

An official of the state agriculture department said an increase in the number of grasshoppers was reported from Kolasib district on the Mizoram-Assam border, Sakawrdai and its surrounding villages in Aizawl.

But according to reports, rodents, African giant snails and leaf-rolling caterpillars are destroying crops in the jhum (shifting) and wet rice cultivation areas, reports said.