Nearly 300,000 people still affected by drought

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said that as many as 293,764 people remained affected by the drought in the five northern districts of the country.

In its situation report issued on Monday, the DMC said Puttalam, Kurunegala, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Mannar were the five districts hit by the drought, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Sri Lanka experienced both droughts and floods last year. The inclement weather conditions, which saw floods, landslides and high-speed winds, claimed the lives of more than 200 people and disrupted essential services last year.

Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake told Xinhua that rice crops failed for the third consecutive season last year, resulting in a major shortage of rice in the market. He said the north-east monsoon rain had been delayed during the current season.

Rice is the staple food of Sri Lanka and local farmers depend on the monsoon rain for rice cultivation.