The New Nation - Internet Edition

Shamim Jahangir

Aman and Boro cultivation is likely to suffer a serious setback in the 11-Aila battered coastal districts in the upcoming season due to poor allocation of fund under the two-year agriculture rehabilitation programme of the government.

The government has so far allocated a paltry sum of Tk 38.42 crore under this programme for the Aila hit districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Barguna, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Bhola, Barisal, Noakhali, Laxmipur and Chittagong, sources in the Agriculture Ministry said.

An amount of over Tk 18 crore has set aside in the first phase to provide seed and fertilisers to nearly two-lakh cyclone stricken small and marginal farmers of the eleven coastal districts. Each farmer will get 5 kgs of seed, 18 kgs of urea, 8 of TSP and 9 kgs of potash under the agriculture rehabilitation programme.

This amount is a tip of the iceberg in the backdrop of colossal damage suffered by 7,87,533 farmers directly during the sway of Aila in May last.

The calamity, which is a regular phenomenon in the coastal districts, destroyed crops worth Tk 734.41 crore on 87,765 hectares of land shattering the hope of good crops of thousands of farmers, officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said privately.

When contacted, a senior official of the Agricuture Minister admitted that the allocation of fund under the agriculture rehabilitation programme was too meagre compared to the magnitude of destruction wrought by Aila in May last.

He, however, pointed out that the government would undertake the second phase programme for Boro cultivation in November. He also referred to series of programmes taken up by the government to provide succour to the cyclone-hit people under its social safety net project.