World Bank assistance for cyclone-hit areas after damage assessment

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The World Bank (WB) has offered assistance to the government's agricultural rehabilitation programmes in the country's cyclone-ravaged regions, reports bdnews24.com.
Praful C Patel, the bank's South Asia vice president, made the offer at a two-hour meeting with Agriculture Adviser CS Karim at noon in the city Friday.
"The World Bank has undertaken a number of rehabilitation programmes for the cyclone Sidr-affected farmers in the south, involving crop production, imports of food grains and house building chiefly," Patel told reporters after the meeting.
He said he discussed with adviser how the bank could help the government to get over the farm sector losses.
The bank will do its best when the ongoing donors' assessment of the damage is completed and information disseminated towards end-January, Patel added.
"The poverty alleviation programmes undertaken by the government in the cyclone-hit regions will be hampered. But a three-pronged coordinated approach combining the government, donors and NGOs could possibly help recover the losses," Karim told reporters.
Rice production will suffer a shortfall of nearly 1.4 million tonnes because of the recurrent floods and the cyclone, the adviser said.
The government has initiated hybrid-rice farming in the cyclone-stricken regions, he said.
The hybrid rice production in the south may lead to harvesting of about 0.75-0.9 million tonnes of rice at the end of the season and the shortfall will have to be met through imports, Karim said.
The adviser said the government would supply the affected farmers with fish fry, vegetable and lentil seeds through integration and coordination of NGO interventions.
The government would also provide farmers with grants and agricultural loans, as necessary, he said.