Staff Reporter :
Crops worth Tk 2.63 billion have been damaged by cyclone Bulbul made landfall in the country on Saturday, says Minister for Agriculture Muhammad Abdur Razzaque.
“The losses were incurred in 103 upazilas of 16 districts,” he told the media at his office on Tuesday
The winter vegetables are amongst the crops destroyed, but the damage is not as bad as the government had predicted, he said.
“The damages might go up but it will be another seven to eight days for a complete report,” the minister said.
Some 50,503 farmers have been affected by the cyclone. Crops on over nearly 280,000 hectres of land were destroyed.
“Of the damaged crops, Aman on 2,33,574 hectares, winter vegetables on 16,884 hectares, mustard on 1,476 hectares, khesari on 31,088 hectares, masur on 195 hectares and others crops on 3,126 hectares,” added the minister.
The cyclone-affected 16 districts are: Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Narail, Barishal, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barguna, Pirojpur, Jhalakhati, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Shariatpur, Noakhali, Feni and Laxmipur.
Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman, Additional Secretary (administration) Md Arifur Rahman Apu, Additional Secretary (FMM) Hasanuzzaman Kollol, Department of Agricultural Extension Director General Dr Mohammad Abdul Mueed and Agriculture Research Institute director general Dr Mohammad Shahjahan Kabir, among others, were present.
The cyclonic storm, which turned into ‘severe’ from ‘very severe’ on Saturday night, completed crossing the West Bengal-Khulna coast near the Sundarbans around 5:00am Sunday (Nov 10) and then weakened further into a deep depression.
