Bangladesh News

Rehabilitation of the cyclone Aila-hit farmers starts today in the southern districts through distribution of free seeds and fertilisers for the Aman season.

The government will distribute this agricultural aid among around 1.76 lakh farmers from 75 upazilas in 12 Aila-affected districts.

Each of the farmers would get five kilograms of rice seeds, 18kg urea fertilisers, eight kg TSP and nine kg MoP fertilisers for a bigha of land in the first phase.

The government needs Tk 18 crore to implement the rehab programme during this monsoon.

Local lawmakers, representatives of upazila and union parishads and upazila agriculture offices will supervise the programme, sources say.

For the second phase, the government would spend Tk 20 crore to distribute seeds and fertilisers among 1.9 lakh farmers in winter, say officials of the agriculture ministry.

The government has already prepared a list of the affected farmers with photographs to ensure transparency of the programme.

Every listed farmer has already been given a slip with photograph and they would have to show it while receiving the aid.

The list has been prepared based on acute needs of the farmers whose crops have been badly damaged, said Mohammad Sayeed Ali, director general of the agriculture extension directorate under the ministry.

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury would visit different Aila-hit areas and distribute seeds and fertilisers among the farmers. She would visit Dakop and Batiaghata upazilas in Khulna today to that end.

“We want to restore confidence of the farmers by providing them with seeds and fertilisers. We also want to prove that the government has its responsibility for the affected people,” Matia Chowdhury told The Daily Star.

Asked about the slip with photograph, the minister said, “We have launched it so that transparency is ensured and one can’t take another’s aid.”

Those who have failed to provide photographs have been asked to bring two photocopies of their national identity cards to get the help, she added.

The cyclone-hit farmers have already suffered a huge loss in Aus production. Many of them even may miss the Aman season because of saline water-logging in a few upazilas including the badly affected Koira in Satkhira as the damaged embankments are yet to be repaired.

According to official figures, the cyclone on May 25 damaged 1,742.53 kilometres of embankments, crops on about 3.23 lakh acres of land, 157 bridges and culverts and destroyed about 1.5 lakh livestock.

Matia has directed the lawmakers of the respective areas to complete distribution of the seeds and fertilisers before July 10 so that the farmers could start Aman production.