Home ›› 26 Jul 2022 ›› Front
The devastating floods have damaged agricultural produce worth Tk 1,565.67 crore affecting over 7.58 lakh farmers in 17 districts of the country, said the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
Downpour accompanied by the onrush of waters from upstream India since early May, caused the devastating floods in northern and northeastern districts.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief on Monday estimated the losses caused by the floods across the country at around Tk 86,812 crore.
According to the DAE data, the floods damaged aus, aman and its seedbeds, jute, vegetables, maize, chili and other crops on more than 1.30 lakh hectares.
The DAE allocated just Tk 13 crore among over 4.74 lakh farmers in the form of seed and fertiliser distribution under the rehabilitation assistance programmes. Due to the floods, a total of 4,57,224 tonnes of agricultural produce were damaged.
More than 2.05 lakh tonnes of paddy cultivated on 100,176 hectares were damaged. The loss was estimated at Tk 822.53 crore.
The floods also caused damages to 28,011 tonnes of jute worth Tk 158.43 crore and 1,87,016 tonnes of vegetables worth around Tk 499 crore.
Negative impact on food supply chain
Meanwhile, economists and stakeholders claimed that floods have already created a negative impact on the food supply chain causing a rise of prices of the essential commodities, including rice, fish and vegetables.
They warned that the present condition may worsen further if drought and most importantly energy crisis prolong.
“To ensure food security, the government also started importing rice. But the initiative may fail due to the high price in the global market,” agricultural economist Md Asaduzzaman told The Business Post on Monday.
“In this regard, if the government does not take proper initiative, including lowering the import duty further, the country will face supply chain shortage.”
Asaduzzaman, also an assistant professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, said, “The impacts of floods will be understood more when the farmers will face energy crisis during boro season. Besides, drought will hit vegetable production. That is why an uninterrupted electricity supply to farmers is necessary to avoid a big crisis.”
However, government officials said that though the floods damaged crops and caused financial losses to the farmers, they will be able to recover if they are able to cultivate aman and winter crops unless any natural disaster happens.
While talking to The Business Post, DAE Director General Md Benojir Alam said, “The devastating floods have put the farmers in trouble and consequently, it will hamper our food production. But we are trying to recover the losses by increasing production of aman.
“We have already started distributing high-breed seeds and fertilisers among the affected farmers. Although the drought hampered aman cultivation, recent rainfall has helped farmers to the process,” he added.
