Rs. 952 million in compensation paid for flood damaged crops

The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board (AAIB) says that as of March 11, 2025, Rs. 952 million have been deposited in the bank accounts of 53, 511 farmers whose 2024/25 'Maha' season crops suffered damage during the floods experienced in November, 2024. 

The AAIB added that the Rs. 952 million in compensation had been paid out for damage suffered to crops covering 61, 071 acres of land. 

Batticaloa, Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Jaffna, Kurunegala and Vavuniya were identified as the districts which suffered the most amount of damage to farmland during these floods. 

The AAIB said special care had been taken to conduct that the process of assessing and calculating compensation for crop damage in a transparent manner that reduced the chances of irregularities from happening. As such, compensation was paid only on the recommendation of the Agrarian Service Centres. It added that payment of compensation was suspended in cases where there were shortcomings in the submitted documentation. These included difficulty in identifying the farmers, discrepancies in NIC numbers, wrong information regarding bank account details, assessment committee reports being incomplete and failure to properly submit damage assessments.