The director general of the Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party, Major General Abdul Motaleb Sajjad Mahmud, distributed free Aman rice seedlings to 400 flood-affected farmers in Cumilla and Feni districts.

On the afternoon of 14 September he handed seedlings to 100 flood-hit farmers of Cumilla Sadar Dakshin upazila at the grounds of Lalbagh Rawshan Ashraf High School. He then gave seedlings to 200 farmers at the Fulgazi upazila complex and to 100 farmers of Parshuram upazila at the Parshuram Pilot High School grounds.

Abdul Motaleb Sajjad Mahmud said that as the floodwater receded, farmers were struggling for lack of land on which to raise seedbeds. The Ansar force then prepared seedbeds through a coordinated effort in Brahmanbaria district, raised the seedlings and distributed them among farmers in the two affected districts. In all, 100 acres of land have been brought under Aman cultivation as a result.

The sudden flood left many people in the Cumilla and Feni region homeless. As part of its rehabilitation work, the Ansar and VDP will build houses for the homeless and will soon begin supplying house-building materials to those affected.

The Ansar is the country's largest public-facing disciplined force. Its volunteer members, spread across villages throughout the country, are serving the public in various areas of the post-flood rehabilitation process.

Overall management of the seedling collection was handled by Ashish Kumar Bhattacharya, director and Cumilla range commander.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.