Patna, Aug 21 - Harendra Singh and his neighbour Prakash Mahto, both farmers in Bihar's drought-hit Arwal district, stand guard with guns at a canal - the only source of precious water for their fields - on the outskirts of their village.

They have done so from evening till late night daily for a week, with Arwal being one of the 26 districts in the state that are reeling under drought.

'We have no option but to guard the water in the canal with guns in our hands,' Singh, who is in his early 50s, said over telephone from his village.

Mahto, in his late 40s, told IANS over telephone: 'It is the guns in our hand that create an impression that we will not under any circumstances allow the theft of water in a canal by neighbouring villagers,' Mahto said.

Guns in the hands of farmers is not an uncommon sight in these parts. Hundreds of farmers in rural Bihar, particularly in the Maoist insurgency-hit districts of Arwal, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nawada, Gaya and Patna are busy guarding water sources to save their paddy crops.

Those who can't afford guns are using traditional weapons like bamboo sticks and iron rods instead.

'We are guarding water in the canal because it is a do-or-die situation for us to save the paddy transplanted so far,' said Balram Prasad, a farmer guarding water near his village under the jurisdiction of the Daudnagar police station.

Nannu Khan of a village in the Haspura block in Aurangabad district said: 'There is little water available for irrigation. If we fail, others will take away the water.'

A group of farmers from villages near Paliganj in rural Patna said they were forced to do this by scanty rainfall and little water in the canal.