Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2011-03-08

Providing Relief on Cultivation Loans obtained by Farmers affected by Floods in Maha Season 2010/2011 and Providing other forms of Assistance to them

- Cabinet approval was granted to provide various assistance to this category of farmers, including following:
* seed paddy up to a maximum of 01 ha. free of charge, to farmers whose crops were totally damaged;
* seeds for other field crops up to an extent of 0.2 ha. free of charge to farmers whose crops were damaged; and
* provision of financial assistance at the rate of Rs.4,000/- per 0.4 ha. through the Ministry of Economic Development, for re-cultivation purposes.

The cost of these assistance has to be met within the financial allocation of Rs.33 billion approved by the Cabinet on 09.02.2011, on the basis of a Cabinet Paper on "Impact of recent Flood - A Framework for relief and recovery programme for the Flood Affected Districts".