Floods deal a blow to agriculture sector in Assam

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The first wave of floods of the year has dealt a blow to the State agriculture sector, with farmers suffering huge losses. In some places, flood waters damaged recently-sown paddy saplings. The State Government has sought reports of damage from the district-level agriculture officers.

According to an initial report on the losses prepared by the Agriculture Department, around 20,000 hectares of agriculture lands in twenty districts were damaged by the first wave of floods in the state, affecting 1,67,222 families of farmers in 3937 villages. The breakup of the crop loss, according to the report, is: 1833.46 hectares of summer paddy, including early ahu and boro paddy; 124.96 hectares of autumn paddy (regular ahu); 194.90 hectares of oil seeds (mustard, sunflower, sessamunm, and linseed); 686.66 hectares of summer pulses (black gram and green gram); 6267.63 hectares of jute and mesta; 150.20 hectares of sugarcane; 637.85 hectares of rabi vegetables; 3739.68 hectares of kharif vegetables; 58.80 hectares of spices (onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric); 153.70 hectares of fruits; and 1055.39 hectares of other crops.

Agriculture Minister Atul Bora held a meeting with the top officials of the department last evening and sought detailed reports of damage from the district-level officials of the department.

Speaking to The Sentinel on Tuesday, the Minister said, “The department resorted to growing paddy saplings in community nurseries due to the huge damage caused by floods last year. We have planned such a measure this year, as floods have left a trail of huge damage to the agriculture sector in the very first wave. We will try our best to give succour to the affected farmers with the SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund).”

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