Farmers and their household affected by Tropical Cyclone Cody have until January 26 to apply for the $250 cash assistance.

This was announced by the Minister for Agriculture Mahendra Reddy at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters in Raiwaqa yesterday.

“Our officers are on the ground verifying the farms affected and we encourage farmers to apply online. The deadline for applications is January 26,” he said.

“On February 4, we would like to roll out the payment through M-PAiSA and MyCash.”

For those who cannot apply online, agriculture officers will be coming to assess the farm and forms can be filled at that time or you can also make your way to the nearest agriculture office andofficers will help you log in your details online.

To apply for the cash assistance, your farm must fall in the cyclone path Cyclone Cody and one must be a full-time farmer whose crops have been damaged up to at least 30 per cent or 10 per cent of  livestock has been lost.

Mr Reddy said $250 would be provided for land preparation, cultivation and procurement of planting materials.

Home gardening package

The home gardening package assistance is targeted towards distributing seed packages to 20,000 households.

“You can go to the nearest agriculture office and get the seed pack. We will be announcing places where officers will be present to give out seed packs closer to the densely populated residential areas,” Mr Reddy said.

“The staff will be present in each area for two days with the home gardening seed packs which will be given out at no cost to home gardeners.”

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