Buffalo rearing by tsunami affected in Trincomalee

Story and picture by Sinniah Gurunathan,Trincomalee correspondent

Picture shows a beneficiary family.

Some of the tsunami affected families of Vadalikulam, a coastal fishing hamlet in Kuchchaveli DS division in Trincomalee district have ventured into a new occupation, buffalo rearing.

They have been resettled in an area about three km away from the coastal village, officials said. EHED Caritas, a social arm of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka, helped them to buy buffaloes providing each beneficiary with a buffalo and a calf at a cost of Rs 40,000.

The animals are insured with the Agricultural Insurance Board. EHED Caritas has also supplied seeds of a new variety of grass to prepare graze land for the animals.

Some 53 families have been brought under this project and seven of them had been provided with necessary assistance as a first step.