Farmers suffer nearly Tk 350cr loss for Sitrang

Cyclone Sitrang, which swept across Bangladesh last week, has caused losses of around Tk 350 crore for 150,000 farmers in almost half of the country, the agriculture ministry said yesterday.

Betel leaf and vegetable growers were severely affected as the cyclonic storm and rainfall damaged their gardens and fields.

Betel leaf growers suffered losses of Tk 162 crore at their gardens on 88 hectares while vegetable producers recorded Tk 98 crore worth of losses owing to damages on 2,800 hectares of their fields.

The cyclone damaged vegetable fields of farmers in 19 coastal and northwest districts, said a senior official of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Sitrang affected food crops on 10,200 hectares of land, of which aman paddy on 5,600 hectares has been damaged causing a loss of Tk 66.5 crore.

The official said overall rice yields from the current Aman crop would be lower than the DAE's target of 1.63 crore tonnes following the crop destruction.

"We have already placed proposals for giving support to the affected producers on a priority basis," he said, adding that each farmer that incurred losses would be brought under the rehabilitation.

The DAE estimates that the cyclone, which lashed over Bangladesh on October 24, affected more than 100,000 hectares in 31 districts, mainly in the southern coastal region.

The Department of Fisheries earlier estimated that the cyclone caused losses of Tk 68 crore for the aquaculture sector, including export-oriented shrimp farmers as their farms were inundated.