JERTEH: As many as 160 farmers can breathe a sigh of relief when the state government promised to provide aid after storms destroyed their paddy fields.
Terengganu Agriculture, Agro-based Industry and Rural Development Committee chairman Dr Azman Ibrahim (pix) said complete data was being collected on the damage that occurred on Thursday.
He said, so far 97.2ha of paddy fields in Besut and Setiu districts were involved.
“It involves an area of 82.2ha of paddy fields under the Northern Terengganu Integrated Agricultural Development Area (IADA KETARA) and the rest is located outside the granary area.
“The overall loss incurred so far is estimated at RM567,000 which is calculated based on the potential yield and current market price for a tonne of paddy,” he told reporters after inspecting the affected paddy fields in Gong Terlikung and Denger, here today.
Dr Azman who is also the state assemblyman for Jabi, said appropriate assistance would be channelled through the state Agricultural Disaster Fund and a report would be send to the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry to obtain assistance from the Federal government.
Meanwhile, a farmer, Ab Halim Zakaria, 41, said he suffered losses of about RM12,000 this season when a two-hectare paddy field in Kampung Denger which he was cultivating was damaged by the storm that occurred at about 3.30pm, on Thursday.
“The paddy that I planted should have been harvested in another 10 days but this did not happen when the crop was destroyed by a storm. — Bernama
