Floods damage Aus on 56,000 hectors: Minister

Agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque said the ongoing flood has damaged Aus on 56,000 hectors of land across the country including 22,000 hectors in Sylhet and Sunamganj.

The minister made the remarks while exchanging views with the newsmen after a meeting with the high commissioner of Maldives to Bangladesh Shiruzimath Sameer at the secretariat on Monday.

Abdur Razzaque said the ongoing flood may affect price of vegetables but it cannot be said for now whether any food crisis will arise in the country due to floods.

Flood damages vegetables, sesame, peanut and others crops and if the floods do not last long, it will be possible to recover this damage and for that, huge preparation has started, he added.

Various programmes are being taken to prevent damage to production of Aman, the minister said adding about 15 million (1.5 crore) tonnes of Aman is produced every year. Currently, farmers are making Aman seedbed and if floods last long seedbeds will be damaged.

The agriculture minister said, “Prime minister Sheikh Hasina instructed to take maximum arrangements to make Aman seedbed. Damaged seedbeds will be processed again. We have adequate stock of Aman seeds and that will be given to farmers. If floods prolong, initiatives will be taken to cultivate late variety of paddies.”

“We are taking preparation considering all situations. If floods damage Aman yields, we will have to increase production of Robi crops and farmers will be provided with seed, fertiliser, irrigation and other equipment for free to mitigate their loss,” he added.

Prior to talking to newsmen, Abdur Razzak held a meeting with the high commissioner of Maldives to Bangladesh Shiruzimath Sameer.

The minister said the Maldives envoy expressed interest to import mangos from Bangladesh. The island country is also keen to co-operate Bangladesh in exploring the vast marine resources, Abdur Razzaque said.