Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque has said that the government has estimated crop losses from flash floods at Tk 3.49 billion.He was addressing a seminar in the city on Monday.Abdur Razzaque said, "The floods have destroyed harvests of paddy, vegetables, jute and other crops.

The government has taken measures such as creating alternative seedbeds, cultivating other crops on damaged lands and monitoring weather conditions to mitigate the damages." "The measures taken by the government will help recover the damages caused by the floods if the situation doesn't deteriorate further," he added.

Flash floods affected the cultivation of 11 different crops on 76,210 hectares of land in parts of Bangladesh from June 25 to July 9, according to the ministry. A total of 41,918 hectares of land were completely damaged that caused a loss of Tk 3.49 billion. At least 344,000 farmers have been affected by the floods.

The floods hit a total of 14 districts in Bangladesh, including Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Bogura, Sirajganj, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Jamalpur, Netrokona, Rajshahi, Manikganj, Faridpur and Tangail due to extreme rains, onrush of water from the upstream and swelling rivers.

The cultivation of 13 different crops on 83,000 hectares of land has also been damaged in Manikganj, Bogura, Tangail, Natore, Naogaon, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Jamalpur, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Faridpur, Madaripur, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Mymensingh, Sirajganj, Pabna, Sherpur and Brahmanbaria from July 11-19.

The extent of the damage caused by the second phase of the floods is yet to be estimated.The second phase of the floods has already affected 1457,827 people in 17 districts, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman said.