Agri ministry seeks Tk 100cr for seeds

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The agriculture ministry sought Tk 100 crore from the finance ministry so that it can distribute seeds of different crops and paddy seedlings to flood-hit farmers across the country.

“We sought Tk 100 crore from the finance ministry. But it is just as a proposal, we do not know how much we would get,” says a high officials of the agriculture ministry.

Earlier, the government had allocated Tk 65 crore which was spent to supply paddy seedlings and vegetable seeds to farmers. But the second spell of floods this year ruined many farmers’ crops again and the agriculture ministry is trying to compensate for their losses, the ministry sources said.

A chunk of the fresh allocation would be spent as fertiliser subsidy so that the farmers can get those at a lower price, sources said.

However, the finance adviser on Tuesday told journalists, not being specific about the agro sector, that overall loss caused by floods would be around $200 million.

Sources in the agriculture department had initially said the agro sector suffered loss of a few hundred crore taka due to floods. But, the second round of flooding this year severely damaged crops again in 39 districts of the country.

Agriculture experts said even though flood damage was severe, it would not be impossible to make up for food shortages and the loss to crops. Many farmers who borrowed money to recover from lost crops and lost them again to floods are facing problems, as they would not get any harvest this season.

“So those farmers need help for their winter crops,” said an official from the department of agriculture extension.

The first spell of floods started July 18 and stayed for three weeks and the second spell of flood that stayed for two weeks started in September 6.

According to the official data of agriculture ministry, crops, including Aus, Amon, vegetables, on 4,12,940 hectares were totally damaged while crops on 3,47,406 hectares of land were partially damaged, out of the 32,86,959 hectares of cultivable land of the country.

According to agriculturists, the second spell of floods damaged crops irretrievably since the farmers had no time to cultivate again. After the first spell, many farmers cultivated the late variety of crops.

Director of agriculture monitoring, under the department of agriculture extension, said, “We are yet to estimate the damage to crops caused by the floods.”

The department of agriculture tried its best to minimise losses by taking a number of quick initiatives, including providing paddy seedlings and seeds to the farmers, he added.

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