Agri ministry says Tk 1.66 bn needed to rehabilitate flood-hit farmers

Tk 1.66 billion will be needed to rehabilitate farmers in northeast Bangladesh who are still smarting from losses following flash floods that damaged their crop fields in early April this year, the Ministry of Agriculture has estimated.

The data came up in the worksheet of a meeting that a parliamentary standing committee on the ministry held at the parliament building on Thursday.

As per the worksheet, officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension or DAE are currently inspecting the affected areas and will take steps after preparing the list of affected farmers and measuring affected lands.

Heavy rains triggered flash floods in the north-eastern districts in April. Productions of ‘Boro’ and ‘Aaush’ paddy, in particular, were battered in ‘haor’ or backswamps.

Boro crops were damaged on 250,000 hectares of land in six north-eastern districts during April and May, according to the ministry.

“The ministry has stressed allocation of funds for rehabilitating farmers. The committee has made further recommendations on this,” said Nurul Islam, a member of the committee.

Low lands in the zone were hit by floods once again recently.

“Another spell of downpour has damaged Aaush paddy on 10,641 hectares of land and Aman seedbed on 1,118 hectares of land in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Netrakona, Moulvibazar, Bandarban, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong,” said Islam.

The overflowing Teesta River has flooded croplands in parts of Kurigram, Jamalpur, Sirajganj and Bogra, he said.

The ministry has decided to make a seedbed of ‘Ufshi Ropa Aman’ paddy on 100 acres of land under the supervision of DAE.

A total 30 metric tonnes of seeds will be supplied and 6,060 farmers will receive Aman saplings under the programme, said the ministry official.