Crops on 172,000 hectares of land have gone underwater in more than 30 districts while the country’s chief agriculture officer predicted that crop losses would not go over 10 percent, reports BSS.
Different standing crops including Aus, Transplant Aman, Broadcast Aman, Aman Seedbed, Summer Vegetables, Jute, Sugarcane, Banana and Green Chilli on 172,043 out of 1.16 million hectares of land have swamped with flood water at thirty-one districts across the country, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) shows at its latest report.
Of the standing crops, the Aus crop on 50,602 out of 488,085 hectares, Transplant Aman (T-Aman) on 1,363 hectares out of 41,951 hectares, Broadcast Aman (B-Aman) on 40,861 out of 166,331 hectares and different summer vegetables on 15,513 hectares out of 117,547 hectares of land have been affected due to the flood, the report details.
In addition, jute on 45,209 out 227,139 hectares of land, sugarcane on 565 hectares on 2,744 hectares, banana on 352 out of 1112 hectares, green chilli on 800 out of 6,197 hectares of land and other crops on 120 out of 7,124 hectares of land have been affected due to the flood water.
The DAE report, however, revealed that the flood has completely damaged different standing crops on 80,568 hectares of land while crops on 91,474 hectares of land have partially damaged.
Ruling out the food deficit due to the flood, Director General of the DAE Mir Nurul Alam told the BSS on Tuesday (Jul 30) that the country will suffer economic pressure due to the crop damage particularly Jute, but he ruled out any kind of food shortage due to the flood.
The final crop loss is yet to be made which to be ascertained after recession of the flood water, said the official. “The primary report however showed that the production loss of the food grains due to the flood is approximately 328,562 tonnes or 10 percent of the total rice production,” the DAE chief added.
Over 650,000 farmers have been affected due to the flood, according to the DAE report.
The flood affected districts are Sunamganj, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Hobiganj, Noakhali, Feni, Rangamati, Bandarban, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Bogura, Sirajganj, Brahmanbaria, Rajshahi, Natore, Faridpur, Madaripur, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Pabna, Dinajpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Netrokona, Naogaon, Tangail and Manikganj.