(AFP) - Cyclone Sidr has inflicted "enormous losses" on the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors in southern Bangladesh, requiring "large-scale" aid, the UN food agency said Friday.
The cyclone wiped out more than 92,000 hectares (230,000 acres) of crops, while more than half a million hectares were partially damaged, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a communique.
A total of more than 350,000 cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats as well as poultry are estimated to have been lost, the FAO said.
Shrimp aquaculture in the affected Bagerhat region was also devastated, the agency added.
"Support is urgently needed to help restore agricultural and fisheries production activities as well as livestock assets for animal traction in the affected communities," said Anne M. Bauer, the head of the FAO's emergency operations division.
"Quick intervention to improve food availability and self-reliance in cyclone-devastated districts will reduce the need for protracted, and more costly, life-saving assistance," she added.
The FAO has received three million dollars (two million euros) in emergency funds so far, the communique said.
Nearly five million people have been affected by the cyclone, half of whom need immediate livelihood and life-saving relief, the UN humanitarian affairs office in Geneva said Friday.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has already granted 15 million dollars in aid and called on international donors to continue their generosity.
The World Bank has pledged up to 250 million dollars for food imports, medical supplies and cash grants, while Britain has pledged more than five million dollars and the United States around 3.5 million dollars.