Farmers get largest amount of compensation ever paid

Agriculture and Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that the Government was able to start paying the largest amount of compensation to farmers for crop damage caused by drought and floods in the 2023 Yala season within two months of the crop damage occurring.

The first ceremony for the awarding of such compensation was held yesterday (19) in Angunukolapelessa.

The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board has decided to spend Rs. 389 million from the funds of the board until the Government’s financial allocations are received for this first phase.

Accordingly, 375 farmers in the Hambantota district were awarded compensation by the Minister. In providing these compensations, payment will be given for the crops of paddy, chillies, potatoes, maize, soybeans and big onions. Under that, the damage caused by drought, heavy rains and wild elephants will be taken into consideration.

According to the current surveys, 65,000 acres have been damaged due to drought and 11,000 acres due to rain. Crop damage compensation is provided subject to a maximum of Rs.100,000 per hectare.

According to yesterday’s compensation award, Rs. 360 million was awarded for 13,451 acres in the Hambantota Mahaweli area and Rs. 24,98,400 for 89 acres in Chandrika Wewa, Kolonna, Panamure, and Thibolketia agrarian service areas.

Minister Amaraweera said, “Our farmers had to face great hardships due to the drought that affected the 2023 Yala season and the heavy rains that followed. “President Ranil Wickremesinghe expressed his agreement to provide some relief to the farmers even though there is an economic crisis in the country.

“No action has been taken before to compensate crop damage in such a short period of time. Generally, crop damage compensation is paid after about a year. But this time within two months, crop damage compensation was started.

“Although the Government has not yet received the necessary financial allocations to compensate for the crop damage, I advised the Agricultural and Agricultural Insurance Board to start paying the compensation by using the financial allocations.

“We know that providing Rs. 100,000 per hectare for crop damage may not be enough, but this time we have to pay a huge amount of compensation. We assume that this amount may be the highest amount paid for crop damage in history.

“Farmers whose crops were damaged are in a difficult situation. They no longer have financial resources to spend on cultivation. Therefore, we believe that they will get some relief on the prompt payment of crop damage compensation.

“Also, today we will start giving 40 litres of fuel free of charge to all farmers who have suffered crop damage. Of the 6.9 million litres of fuel given to us by the Chinese government, two million litres are left. We decided to give that stock of fuel to the farmers whose crops were damaged.”

Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board Chairman M.M.B. Weerasekera also participated in the event.

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