NAYA PARA, 4 December 2007 (IRIN) - Paddy farmer Rabin Das knows all to well the impact last month's cyclone has had on his livelihood.

His half hectare of rice and betel leaf - a popular cash crop in Bangladesh - was devastated by Cyclone Sidr, which slammed into Bangladesh's coastal area on 15 November, leaving over 3,000 dead and millions more homeless.

"I lost everything," the 38-year-old ethnic Hindu farmer told IRIN in Naya Para, a village of 500 inhabitants in southern Bangladesh's Barguna District, not far from the Bay of Bengal. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked.

That is a good question and one being asked by hundreds of thousands of paddy farmers like him across the cyclone-affected area.

According to a government estimate released on 1 December, of the 553,000 hectares of crops ravaged by Cyclone Sidr across 30 affected districts, 418,000 hectares belonged to this year's 'Aman' harvest – the largest of Bangladesh's rice harvests, occurring in November and December and usually accounting for more than half of annual production.

About 800,000 metric tonnes (mt) of rice crops worth over US$290 million were reportedly destroyed.

The Bangladesh Agriculture Ministry's final damage assessment report shows the overall shortfall in 'Aman' production for the current fiscal year to the end of June 2008 to be 1.4 million mt.

Earlier this year, 600,000 mt of this year's 'Aman' had been damaged by monsoon flooding in August and September.

However, agriculture adviser CS Karim ruled out the possibility of any food crisis, saying the government would make good any shortfalls by importing more rice from abroad and through donors.

Moreover, the government, in collaboration with banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) would distribute seeds of high-yielding 'Boro' varieties of rice to farmers to increase production next season, he said.

As a result of natural calamities in recent months, the production this year might be 1.4 million mt short of the targeted 32.2 million mt, the damage assessment report said.

In an effort to cover the shortfall, as well as reserves, Bangladesh will probably have to import 3.1 million mt of rice from the global market - a 29 percent increase on imports last year.

500,000 mt of rice from India

On 30 November India announced it would allow the sale of 500,000 mt of rice to help Bangladesh cope with any potential food shortages.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made the announcement during his visit to Bangladesh.

New Delhi had banned rice exports to protect its domestic market from shortages following summer flooding, but has decided to ease the ban.

Mukherjee said India's public operators would procure the rice in India, which could then be purchased by Bangladeshi public or private buyers.

India had earlier waived the rice export ban for 50,000 mt immediately after the cyclone and had also provided 20,000 mt as direct relief.

No food crisis now

Meanwhile, Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam also ruled out the possibility of any food crisis before March next year.

Commenting on the latest damage assessment report, Islam said the present domestic food stock was higher than in the same period last year.

"We don't see any crisis until March next year. We are working to increase the domestic food stock. Besides, the government will operate open market sale (OMS) and other food distribution programmes," he said.

EU assurances

On 27 November European Commission Ambassador Stefan Frowein assured Bangladesh of its support in overcoming possible food shortfalls as a result of this year's cyclone.

"It might be a real difficulty in March next year, but we will try to help so Bangladesh does not face big trouble due to shortages of food," he said, addressing a meeting in Dhaka.

Regarding the government's appeal to international donors for 500,000 mt of rice assistance, Frowein said currently the government had a stock of 761,000 mt, some of which was being used for the country's vulnerable group feeding (VGF) and other programmes.

The government needs to re-stock by making purchases as well as receiving aid in order to build up food stocks to one million mt by next March, Frowein explained.

sa/ds/cb

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

IRIN news