Govt shifts agri rehab programme from 'Aman' to 'Boro' season

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Farmers are seen busy in a field at Sonargaon in Narayanganj district tending to their winter vegetables. — FE photo

S M Jahangir
The government has planned to divert its agriculture rehabilitation programme from 'Aman' cultivation to the next 'Boro' crop season, aiming to recoup the country's losses of foodgrain output due to the recent flooding.
"Now, the government is going to launch a Tk 1.0-billion programme for supporting the flood-hit farmers during the next Boro cultivation season," a senior Agriculture Ministry official said Monday.
The government's such policy shift is mainly because the authorities find little scope to provide support for rehabilitation of the already damaged Aman crops, official source said.
Initially, the government took up a rehabilitation programme for the flood-affected Aman farmers but the second phase of flooding had forced it to drop the plan, they mentioned.
"Since the damage to Aman crop is not recoupable, we are giving especial attention to the upcoming boro cultivation season," a senior official said.
The official further said although the government will initially launch an over Tk 1.0-billion programme for Boro farmers, the support could later be enhanced.
The proposed fund will be provided to the farmers, especially the marginal ones who were badly affected due to the latest floods, in the form of subsidy, said officials.
The affected farmers will get agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilisers, and irrigation supports at subsidised rates during the next Boro season, they mentioned.
Responding to a query, another official said the ministry is unlikely to publish the report with regard to the losses, faced by the country's agriculture sector due to the recent floods.
According to the initial estimate by the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the country's agriculture sector sustained losses to the tune of Tk 23.61 billion due to the first spell of flooding.
The flood-monitoring cell under the agriculture ministry also revealed that crops on over 0.6 million hectares of land were affected in 39 districts due to the first spell of floods
Rejecting such estimate, the agriculture ministry asked the DAE to scrutinise the figure on the basis of field-level statistics, a ministry official mentioned.
The official also said the DAE is yet to submit its revised report on the flood-related losses to the agriculture ministry.
On the basis of an initial assessment, the government had sanctioned Tk 650 million worth of fund for distribution of agricultural inputs like seedlings and fertilisers among the flood-hit farmers, the official said.
Of the sanctioned amount, the finance ministry had released Tk 320 million, officials said.
Besides, the finance ministry told the agriculture ministry that the remaining amount would be released after the assessment of the actual flood-related damage to the agriculture sector, they added.
Officials and agriculturists, however, observed that such rehabilitation programme had yielded little result as the second spell of flooding dashed many farmers' hopes for the replantation of Aman crop.
The second spell of floods had damaged 'Aman' on over 100,000 hectares of land across the country.