Floods destroy crops worth over Tk.13b

The consecutive floods this year have caused damage to crops having market value of Tk13.23 billion in 37 districts of the country.
Crops on 0.159 million hectares of land were totally damaged by the floods that first started on June 25 last.
A total of 1.27 million farmers have suffered financially as standing Aus, Aman, vegetables, jute and other crops were destroyed by the floods, agriculture minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque told a press briefing on Wednesday. Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) organised the briefing.
He said Aman rice crop on 70,918 hectares of land, Aman seedbeds on 8,000 hectares and Aus paddy on 32,213 hectares of land have been damaged so far by the floods.
The ministry has taken several initiatives to compensate for the losses suffered by the farmers, he added.
Dr. Razzaque said his ministry has already distributed farm inputs worth Tk 175.4 million to 0.239 million flood-affected farmers.
Under a project, 0.15 million farmers have been provided with seeds of leafy, yard-long bean, bottle gourd, local bean, cucumber valued at about Tk 102.7 million.
The minister said the farmers in flood-affected districts got seedbeds at higher places and floating seedbeds at a cost of Tk 28.5 million.
Besides, 50,000 farmers in 34 districts, who could not go for Aman farming, got mashkalai (black gram) seed, DAP and MOP fertilisers worth Tk 38.2 million free of cost.
Another project worth Tk 750 million will also be implemented under which 0.96 million farmers will get seeds and other inputs free of cost to grow khesari (grass pea), mustard, sunflower, tomato, groundnut and wheat during this fiscal year, said the minister.

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