First phase of agri rehab programme for Sidr-hit areas begins next week

FE Team | Published: December 08, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

S M Jahangir
The government will launch next week its first phase of an extensive agri-rehabilitation programme for the country's Sidr-hit southwestern districts giving priority to the cultivation of 'Boro' crop and vegetables.
A sum of Tk 662.80 million has been earmarked for the programme that covers free distribution of seeds and fertilisers among the affected farmers of 29 cyclone-hit districts, official sources said.
"An agri-rehabilitation scheme involving Tk 662.80 million for the Sidr-affected areas awaits the Finance Ministry's approval. Hopefully, the programme will kick off within a week," said a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
Initially, the MoA has sought the amount of fund from the government for supporting the farmers, who have lost their crops and properties because of the November 15 cyclone, the official said.
According to the MoA officials, cultivation of both Boro and vegetables on 39,000 hectares of land will come under the first phase of the proposed rehabilitation programme.
They, however, said abound 50 per cent of the proposed fund will be sanctioned for rehabilitating agriculture in four worst-affected districts - Pirojpur, Barguna, Patuakhali and Bagerhat.
The rest of the fund will be allocated proportionately to nine badly-hit and 16 other less affected districts, they mentioned.
According to officials, the government will also launch the second and third phases of agri-rehabilitation programmes for the Sidr-affected districts, targeting the next 'Aus' and 'Aman' crops.
The entire rehabilitation programme aims to help the affected farmers recoup their losses caused by the cyclone, they said.
"The ultimate objective of the rehabilitation programme is to bring down the country's overall foodgrain deficit, caused due to a significant shortfall in the Aman yield following a series of natural calamities including the Sidr," said an MoA official.
Referring to an official assessment, he said the cyclone had damaged Aman crop to the tune of over 0.80 million tonnes in the country's coastal districts alone.
Earlier, the loss to Aman crop was estimated at 0.6 million tonnes due to two successive floods during the period between July and September last.
With the total losses, the local Aman production might fall short of target by around 2.0 million tonnes this season, sources said. The total production was fixed earlier at 13 million tonnes for this season, they added.
Taking such production shortfall into consideration, agriculturists and experts have already suggested that the government should launch special rehabilitation programmes both for the flood and cyclone-hit areas to reduce the country's overall foodgrain deficit in the current fiscal.
Meanwhile, the government is also considering integrating banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with its agri-rehabilitation programme for the cyclone-affected districts, officials said.
Apart from the aforesaid rehabilitation programme, necessary steps have also been taken to ensure that the farmers have easy access to credit, sources said.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has already asked the concerned commercial banks and other specialised banks to speed up the disbursements of agri-credits among the affected farmers.