Compensation for crops damaged in the recent spell of heavy rains will be processed through the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne said on Monday. Farmers have a two-week window to submit details of damaged cultivation to the relevant officials, with information collection already underway.
Karunaratne said reports had been received from across the country of cultivation lands hit by the latest weather wave, and that instructions had been issued through the Insurance Board and other departments to compile damage records. He appealed to affected farmers to come forward “promptly” so claims can be processed without delay.
Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board Chairman Pemasiri Jasingarachchi told Ada Derana that compensation would be issued “swiftly” once damage details were received. Officials would inspect affected lands and determine payouts according to the scale of losses recorded for each farmer, he said.
The relief scheme is the first government response specifically directed at smallholder agricultural losses from the weather event that has pummelled the country this month. The Disaster Management Centre on Monday said adverse weather had damaged 204 houses across 13 districts, affecting 5,277 people and killing two. Earlier rounds of disaster relief drew scrutiny after a Monaragala disaster-relief officer was suspended over a Rs. 100,000 skim from a Rs. 2 million cyclone Ditwah relief cheque.
The Agrarian Insurance Board, established under the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Act, operates the primary state-backed crop indemnity programme covering paddy and other priority cultivations. Yala-season planting, already underway in parts of the dry zone, depends on whether the next round of compensation outlays moves fast enough to clear distressed cash flows ahead of the planting cycle.
Source: Ada Derana.
