Drought compensation for 3,000 farmers
The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board has commenced issuing compensation payments to farmers affected by recent El Niño drought conditions, according to Director General I.U.K. Kaluarachchi.Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Kaluarachchi said that payments had commenced on 4 September, with compensation having been disbursed to 3,000 farmers so far and additional payments being processed on an ongoing basis.
Damage claims covering approximately 8,500 acres of farmland have been submitted nationwide, with paddy accounting for the vast majority of damaged crops.“Compensation is calculated at Rs. 40,000 per acre or Rs. 100,000 per hectare. To address climate-related damages, the Government allocated Rs. 3 billion in this year’s Budget. That amount is sufficient to cover both cultivation seasons,” Kaluarachchi said.The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board provides compensation for six primary crops: paddy, maize, chilli, potato, big onion, and soya.
Kaluarachchi said that overall agricultural destruction was significantly lower than initially feared. Since the dry weather set in near the end of the Yala season, non-paddy crops have suffered minimal impact, resulting in few compensation requests for crops other than rice.Geographically, the highest volume of compensation claims originated from the Anuradhapura District, followed by Polonnaruwa.
Looking ahead to the upcoming Maha season, Kaluarachchi said that farmers would be advised to complete their crop planting before 15 October. Early planting will ensure crops reach sufficient height and resilience ahead of heavy rains expected in November as a result of El Niño.Meanwhile, Department of Agriculture Director General Dr. Thushara Wickramaarachchi said the department’s digital tracking systems had played a central role in verifying crop damage claims. He made these remarks in response to a question raised during a media workshop on Tuesday (15).
Dr. Wickramaarachchi said that when farmers filled out paper registers following weather events, there was an automatic tendency to over-report total crop destruction. However, through the department’s CROPIX digital tracking system, officers verified ground conditions and determined that total crop loss was actually less than that. As a result, the Agricultural Insurance Board issues compensation based on verified officer inspections and database findings rather than unverified paper entries.
He added that in order to forecast El Niño impacts and seasonal rainfall, the Department of Meteorology and Mahaweli authorities analysed historical data spanning 20–30 years. This multi-year database allows experts to model anomalies and map specific regional pockets, such as Mannar, Anuradhapura, and Polonnaruwa, that will experience localised rainfall shifts.
Addressing the current state of inter-agency data systems, Dr. Wickramaarachchi acknowledged that “data still needs to be specifically matched” across different bodies. Despite this ongoing need to align datasets, he said that institutions were reaching “common decisions and consensus in a way never seen in past periods”.
Multiple State agencies are now actively negotiating key resource allocations, such as Mahaweli water distribution schedules, to arrive at mutually agreed outcomes.
