Staff Reporter:
Home and Agriculture Affairs Adviser Lt. Gen. Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (Retd.) yesterday laid emphasis on quick assessment of actual damage in the agricultural sector in the flood-affected areas for launching rehabilitation programs.
The advisor made the call during a view exchange meeting with the heads of departments and organiza-tions under the ministry and senior officials of the ministry at agriculture ministry’s conference room in the Bangladesh Secretariat, said a press release.
Agriculture Secretary Dr. Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian was present.
The agriculture advisor said that “Our main priority is to ensure the production of Aman rice as per the target in the flood-hit areas. If that is not possible, we need to increase the production of useful crops including vegetables.”
Laying emphasis on bringing all arable land under cultivation, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury instructed the officials concerned of the ministry to ensure the supply of seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural materi-als, as well as to create seedbeds and determine the overall preparation.
He also directed the agriculture officials to provide necessary assistance to farmers at field to ensure ag-ricultural production during the post-flood rehabilitation.
The adviser also asked the concerned authorities to ensure the regular attendance of the field level offi-cials at the workplace.
The agriculture secretary informed the meeting about the decision for depositing an amount equal to one day’s salary of all the officers and employees of the ministry in the Chief Adviser’s relief fund to help the flood-affected people.
The adviser appreciated the decision and called on everyone to cooperate in this time of crisis according to their ability.
In the meeting some decisions have been taken for implementation during the post-flood period. These measures include preparing the seedbeds of Ropa (transplanted) Aman in the high land of various de-partments/organizations/institutions as soon as possible, continuing the operation of the Control Room of the Department of Agricultural Extension to collect data on agricultural damage, collecting information related to Ropa Aman rice seed-stock from the departments/organizations under the Ministry of Agricul-ture and collecting the information about the agricultural rehabilitation/assistance activities of various institutions including the Agricultural University in coordination with the ministry.
Besides, BADC/BINA and all other public/private institutions would collect Aman seeds for supplying immediately to the responsible departments/organizations for seedbed preparation. The seedbeds should be prepared as close as possible to the flood-hit areas.
On the other hand, agricultural extension officers and assistant agricultural officers at the field level should be kept active from now on to quickly launch flood-affected agricultural rehabilitation activities, while block and upazila based rehabilitation plan should be adopted immediately.
Moreover, Agricultural Information Service should prepare information on overall agricultural rehabili-tation activities to inform the farmers on flood damage and make aware the farmers at the field level.
Additional Secretary (Extension Division) of the Ministry of Agriculture will perform the duties as co-ordinator for overall management of the programmes.
