Fisheries and livestock in five districts of Chattogram have suffered losses of about Tk 275 crore, Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid, minister for fisheries and livestock and for agriculture, has said. He was speaking on the night of Thursday, 16 July, at a briefing at Chattogram Circuit House on the damage to agriculture, fisheries and livestock from recent heavy-rain flooding in the Chattogram region and on post-flood measures.
The minister said preliminary estimates put losses from the recent floods in the five districts at more than Tk 200 crore in fisheries and about Tk 77 crore in livestock.
Emergency support programme
The government has taken up an emergency support programme to restore agriculture, fisheries and livestock in the five affected districts of the Chattogram region, he said. Under it, 327 tonnes of paddy seed will be given to affected farmers, 1,51,599 cattle will be vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease and cattle feed worth Tk 35 lakh will be distributed. Meanwhile, the departments concerned are still collecting information to assess the actual extent of the damage.
He said the government has enough seed in stock. Farmers whose land is ready for sowing will get seed immediately. For those whose land is not yet ready, seedbeds are being prepared urgently on vacant government land, and rice seedlings from there will be distributed to affected farmers within the next 15 days.
Because floods destroyed straw and other animal feed, cattle feed worth Tk 35 lakh has initially been allocated to the affected areas, the minister said. It will be distributed in the affected upazilas on a priority basis, and more help will be given in phases as needed.
Divisional commissioner Dr Md Ziauddin, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) director general Md Abdur Rahim, Department of Livestock Services director Dr Md Boyjar Rahman, Department of Fisheries Chattogram divisional director Md Anwar Hossain and Chattogram deputy commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Islam Miah were present.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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