Agriculture sector battered by dry weather

COLOMBO (News 1st): Severe dry weather is affecting several parts of the island including North, North Central, Eastern and the North-Western provinces and is impacting agriculture. The recently activated South-Western monsoons did not bring the anticipated amounts of rain to the South-Western parts of the country. Accordingly, the country has not received a considerable amount of rains. The Department of Agriculture points out that due to this situation the country's agriculture sector is facing serious issues and warns that many parts of the island will continue to be battered by the dry weather for the next few months as well. Meanwhile, the data from the Disaster Management Centre confirms that around 450,000 individuals from 17 districts are affected by the prevailing dry weather condition. The Deputy Director of DMC Pradeep Koddippili said that among those the North, North Central, Eastern along with Puttalam and Kurunegala districts are worst affected. As per the data from the Irrigation Department, 14,000 small tanks have dried up while the water levels of the 73 reservoirs that come under the Agriculture Department have reduced to 25%.