The Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board said that ongoing drought has damaged paddy cultivation in an area of land extending over 37,101 acres. The report also said that over 32,000 farmers have been affected by the drought.
While several parts of the island have been affected by the drought, the Ministry had instructed the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board to assess the damages caused by the drought to paddy cultivations. 25 teams have been deployed to carry out the relevant assessments.
The Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board is responsible for protecting local agriculture and agriculturists in the face of unpreventable natural disasters caused by climatic and weather changes. The Board operates through five main segments: Operations, Insurance, Farmers’ Pension Division, Planning, and Administrative and Finance.
The Operations Division is involved in operating insurance schemes with the objective of supporting local agriculture and agriculturists. These schemes include crop insurance schemes and livestock insurance schemes, amongst others. The Insurance Division deals with the compensation payments and disbursement of funds to farmers. The Farmers’ Pension Division is tasked with the payment and coordination of farmers’ pensions and their death and disability benefits.
The most crop damage due to the drought, which amounts to 19,388 acres belonging to 22,357 farmers, had been reported from the Kurunegala District. The second largest extent of damage, 10,125 acres belonging to 4,050 farmers, had been reported from the Udawalawe . Damages have also been caused to paddy cultivations in some other districts including Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Ampara, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
The report prepared by the AAIB states that a total of 37,101 acres of paddy cultivation belonging to 32,967 farmers have been destroyed due to the current drought conditions.
Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board has informed Amaraweera that it would take about one month to prepare the complete report on crop damages caused by the drought. It is against that backdrop that the Minister (Amaraweera) has instructed the Secretary to the Ministry, Gunadasa Samarasinghe to prepare a Cabinet paper regarding crop damages.
While the prevailing drought will likely affect the expected paddy harvest in the Yala cultivating season, the Ministry recently warned of a risk of a serious food shortage in the future. The Ministry also urged farmers and the public to grow food crops in every available patch of land in preparation for the anticipated food crisis.
