Rehabilitating the flood-hit farmers
Thursday, 16 August 2007
FLOOD relief and treating flood victims down with waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and cholera are grabbing all the attention at the moment of the camera and of those running relief operations in the affected districts. But now that the floodwater is receding, albeit slowly, another most important task before the disaster management authorities is to start the post-flood rehabilitation activities. There are two phases of the post-flood rehabilitation work. First, rehabilitation of the people, who have been dislodged by flood from their homesteads and their means of livelihood. In the second phase, the rehabilitation work should focus on helping the people regain their foothold on life by restarting the occupations they had been pursuing to earn their livelihood.
The vast majority of about 10 million people affected by the flood are members of the peasantry living in the rural backwaters. They have not only lost their living shelters, the flood has also taken away much of their food reserves, livestock and whatever other assets they possessed. The standing crops they grew on their own or rented lands have been also destroyed. The plots of lands where they raised seedlings for transplant Aman rice have been devastated by the flood. Large section of the flood victims has also lost their agricultural implements and draft animals with which they could cultivate the lands. After they return to their homesteads on recession of the floodwater, they will have to start their life from scratch.
The agriculture ministry has come up with a gross estimate of the damage inflicted to the agricultural crops including vegetables, which is to the tune of Tk. 6.0 billion. About 450, 000 hectares of land in 56 out of 64 districts have more or less faced the impact of flood. But the destructive effect of flood has been total on rice and vegetables on an area of about 100,000 hectares. One can easily guess from these rough estimates the sheer extent of damage done by flood to the livelihood of farmers in the countryside. The estimate about the extent of crop damage made by the agriculture ministry further says that the amount of rice and vegetables destroyed would come to about 420,000 tonnes. The calculation of the total monetary loss amounting Tk 6.0 billion to crops and vegetables stands on this estimate of tonnage.
The loss to Aus and Aman rice has been calculated to be about 133,000 tonnes over an area of around 70,000 hectares. The largest share of the damage to rice goes to Aman, since the flood has visited exactly in the season when the time is ripe for sowing and preparing seedbeds for this variety of seasonal crop. The harvesting time of this crop is in the winter. With much of the stocked rice already lost, the standing Aus rice under water and the prospect of Aman fast dwindling, it is not hard to envision whether a grim, hungry winter is awaiting the millions of poor farmers in the countryside. So, a major task before the authorities looking after the post-flood rehabilitation work will be to enable the farmers to save the Aman crop as much as possible so that they may at least survive the next winter. The government acted wisely by making promptly an initial allocation of Tk 650 million for rehabilitation in the agricultural sector. The departments concerned under the Agriculture ministry, which are preparing seedbeds for Aman plantation for ready supply to the affected farmers, deserve appreciation.
The vast majority of about 10 million people affected by the flood are members of the peasantry living in the rural backwaters. They have not only lost their living shelters, the flood has also taken away much of their food reserves, livestock and whatever other assets they possessed. The standing crops they grew on their own or rented lands have been also destroyed. The plots of lands where they raised seedlings for transplant Aman rice have been devastated by the flood. Large section of the flood victims has also lost their agricultural implements and draft animals with which they could cultivate the lands. After they return to their homesteads on recession of the floodwater, they will have to start their life from scratch.
The agriculture ministry has come up with a gross estimate of the damage inflicted to the agricultural crops including vegetables, which is to the tune of Tk. 6.0 billion. About 450, 000 hectares of land in 56 out of 64 districts have more or less faced the impact of flood. But the destructive effect of flood has been total on rice and vegetables on an area of about 100,000 hectares. One can easily guess from these rough estimates the sheer extent of damage done by flood to the livelihood of farmers in the countryside. The estimate about the extent of crop damage made by the agriculture ministry further says that the amount of rice and vegetables destroyed would come to about 420,000 tonnes. The calculation of the total monetary loss amounting Tk 6.0 billion to crops and vegetables stands on this estimate of tonnage.
The loss to Aus and Aman rice has been calculated to be about 133,000 tonnes over an area of around 70,000 hectares. The largest share of the damage to rice goes to Aman, since the flood has visited exactly in the season when the time is ripe for sowing and preparing seedbeds for this variety of seasonal crop. The harvesting time of this crop is in the winter. With much of the stocked rice already lost, the standing Aus rice under water and the prospect of Aman fast dwindling, it is not hard to envision whether a grim, hungry winter is awaiting the millions of poor farmers in the countryside. So, a major task before the authorities looking after the post-flood rehabilitation work will be to enable the farmers to save the Aman crop as much as possible so that they may at least survive the next winter. The government acted wisely by making promptly an initial allocation of Tk 650 million for rehabilitation in the agricultural sector. The departments concerned under the Agriculture ministry, which are preparing seedbeds for Aman plantation for ready supply to the affected farmers, deserve appreciation.