Tsunami-related soil damage less severe than feared: Experts
Tsunami-related soil damage less severe than feared: Experts
Grant Peck, Associated Press/Bangkok
The contamination of soil by salt water -- a potentially serious
effect from December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami -- has
been less severe than originally expected, agricultural experts
said Thursday.
Surveys show salt deposited in more than two-thirds of the
agricultural land affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami has been
leached out already, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
said in a statement.
This means the land will be ready when the planting season
begins in April and May.
Land flooded with salt water usually becomes unsuitable for
most types of cultivation, and scientists initially feared the
tsunami would cause extensive, long-term problems.
However, surveys found that of the total of 47,000 hectares
(116,000 acres) of agricultural land damaged by tsunami waves in
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Thailand, about 38,000
hectares (94,000 acres), or 81 percent, can be used for
cultivation this year, said Daniel Renault, FAO coordinator for
agriculture in tsunami-affected countries.
"Fortunately, due to the humid conditions in most of the
Indian Ocean countries, salt-polluted arable land has been
cleaned by rainfall and irrigation," Renault was quoted saying.
Some 9,000 hectares (22,000 acres), mainly in the worst-hit
Indonesian province of Aceh, "have been lost to the sea or can no
longer be used for farming," he said, noting that Aceh has a
total of 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of rice fields.
Still, hundreds of thousands of farmers have had their work
disrupted by the tsunami, the FAO said.
Renault warned that other problems still threatened farmers'
livelihoods.
"Many fields have been covered by soil sediment and trash and
have been damaged by massive soil erosion," he said. "In
addition, there is a shortage of labor for cleaning and
cultivating fields. Many farmers also lack capital and tools to
resume production."
The survey results were presented at a FAO-sponsored workshop
on helping farmers in tsunami-hit nations recover. Experts from
India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand as
well as international organizations attended the workshop.
More than 174,000 perished in the disaster, and tens of
thousands remain missing.
GetAP 1.00 -- MAR 31, 2005 21:29:15