Denmark to train 10,000 Cox’s Bazar farmers to handle disasters

Danish International Development Agency (Danida) and the government of Bangladesh are to jointly train 10,000 farmers in Cox's Bazar to enable them to recover the losses they incurred due to the recent natural disasters and anthropogenic hazards. The people in the area have been exposed to a range of disastrous natural events in recent time including the devastating cyclone Mora in May this year, followed by a flood due to the unusual rainy monsoon, reports UNB. Moreover, the recent influx of around 500,000 new Rohingya refugees has aggravated the situation to multiple degrees. Head of Danida in Bangladesh Peter Bøgh Jensen said the local communities in Cox's Bazar have been struggling because of the frequent damages of crops. “Rohingya influx has put a tremendous pressure on the local farmers,” the Danida chief added. "It is awful what is happening at the border but it is important to remember and support the local communities of Cox's Bazar as well as the refugees." The Farmer Field Schools, the programmes through which the training is supposed to be conducted, are part of the Denmark-Bangladesh Country Programme which was signed last year, said the Danish Embassy in Dhaka on Wednesday. Denmark is a longstanding development partner to Bangladesh in the areas of poverty alleviation, human rights and climate change.