Mizoram agriculture minister C. Lalrinsanga on Wednesday said the state government was giving top priority to farmers and efforts are being made to resolve the inconveniences faced by them because of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus spread.

Convening a meeting through video conference with deputy commissioners and district agriculture officers here on Wednesday, C. Lalrinsanga said the outbreak of coronavirus has affected the whole world and Mizoram has been hit hard as well.

He said the government was making massive efforts to ameliorate the inconvenience faced by the people in general and farmers in particular because of the 21-day lockdown. He asked farmers not to panic.

The minister said the government has allowed farmers in villages to work on their jhum land with caution during the lockdown.

He instructed officials and district administration to take measures to ensure uninterrupted daily work by farmers on their jhum fields.

Lalrinsanga pointed out that a total of Rs 864.16 lakh has been deposited in the bank accounts of 43,208 farmers in the state under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) till date.

Lalrinsanga was briefed about the inconvenience faced by “farmers, especially oil palm, sugarcane and ginger growers”.

The meeting instructed two public undertakings — Mizoram State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers’ Federation Ltd (MIZOFED) and Mizoram Agriculture Marketing Solutions (MAMSOL) to assist sugarcane and ginger growers, an official said. The meeting also agreed to facilitate market for oil palm growers.

The state government on Wednesday issued an order instructing all village-level task forces to allow farmers to work during the lockdown.