Crop Damage Assessment is in Final Stage

Mr. W.M.M.B. Weerasekara Chairman of Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board informed Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera Hon. Minister of Agriculture yesterday (14) that the assessment of the crop damage caused to the farmers due to drought, rain and Sena caterpillar damage has reached the final stage by now.

Paddy and other crops have been greatly affected in several districts due to the recent severe drought weather condition. Therefore, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera Hon. Minister of Agriculture has advised the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board to start the crop damage assessment work immediately. Accordingly, this crop damage assessment was done for almost one and a half months covering all the districts of the island and those activities have reached the final stage by now. Currently, the amount of crop damage reported is about 65,000 acres. 67,000 farmers have been affected from it.

However, the paddy crops that were about to be harvested have been affected due to the rainy weather conditions currently affecting several districts. The assessment of crop damage caused by the drought has been completed by now, crop damage due to rain is currently being assessed.

As soon as these activities are completed, the chairman of Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board has stated that the steps will be taken to hand over the complete crop damage assessment report to Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera Hon. Minister of Agriculture.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture has also mentioned that a Cabinet paper has been submitted for presentation regarding the payment of crop damage compensation.