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‘Sena’ worm-affected farmers to be compensated in 2 weeks: Minister
View(s):Farmers whose crops were destroyed by the ‘Sena’ (Fall Army) worm will receive compensation within the next two weeks, Agriculture Minister P. Harrison said yesterday.
The Minister told the Sunday Times that Rs 250 million had been allocated by the Treasury to pay compensation to these farmers. He said that, if the initial allocation was inadequate, the government was ready to allocate additional funds.
“The District Secretariats, the Grama Sevakas and Agriculture officers have been instructed to visit every single affected farmer and submit an assessment report of the damage by next week,” he added.
The compensation would then be disbursed within a week after the submission of the assessment report.
The ‘Sena’ worm is estimated to have destroyed around 81,000 hectares of maize fields islandwide.
In a bid to control this situation, the Agriculture Department has established pest control committees at several levels including Grama Sevaka divisions, district and national levels. Awareness programmes, too, have been carried out on how best to minimise the damage to crops.
“Over 5,000 awareness programmes have been carried out by the Agriculture Department,” Deputy Director of Agriculture, Anura Wijetunga told the Sunday Times.
Mr. Wijetunga said that Pest Control Committees in all Grama Sevaka Divisions have an Agricultural Advisor to guide Committee members on the mechanisms to be followed to control the worm.
The Committees are to report to the Agriculture Department once the pest control programme yields positive results, but so far, efforts to control the worm have not been successful.
Mr Wijetunga said the Agriculture Department has recommended 5 locally used pesticides to be used in controlling the ‘Sena’ worm.
Meanwhile, the National Steering Committee will meet next week to discuss a solution to this ‘Sena’ worm crisis, said the Director General of the Animal Production & Health Department (APHD) Dr. N. Weerasinghe.
He added that, the damage caused by this worm has not affected the animal feed industry, as animal feed millers do not rely entirely on locally produced maize.
“A few weeks ago, a policy decision was made at the Agriculture Ministry to allow animal feed millers to import maize into the country,” he said.
However, animal feed millers are complaining there is a nutritional deficit in imported maize, when compared with the local produce.
This will have an indirect impact on the quality of the animal feed produced using imported maize.
A leading maize miller, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said they were compelled to purchase maize stocks at Rs 75 per kg due to rising demand.
“Before the ‘Sena’ worm crisis erupted, animal feed millers could purchase maize at between Rs 50 and 55 a kg,” he said.
The price problem is expected to remain until the ‘Sena’ worm is controlled.