Chief Minister Raman Singh has approved issuance of Rs 35.13 crore to farmers under Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme, officials informed.
During 2017-18 as many as 12.94 lakh farmers were brought under the ambit of PM Crop Insurance Scheme.
The Chhattisgarh Government has started implementing the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme for Kharif season 2017 in May this year.
Department of Agriculture and Biotechnology has issued notification in this regard, officials informed.
As per notification, paddy (irrigated) and paddy (non-irrigated) have been notified. Other crops which have been brought under its purview include maize, soyabean, peanuts, Arhar(Tuar), Moong and Urad.
Village panchayat has been made unit. All kinds of farmers whether they are loanee or non-loanee or landlord or even “bataidars” (those who take agriculture land on lease) can avail the said scheme.
Those farmers who are cultivating notified crops and their loan sanctioned from any financial institution from April 2017 to July 2017 for Kharif season will remain under the Insurance cover.
But if farmers have got their loans sanctioned from two different financial institutes for notified crops, they will get insurance cover of only one of the two financial institutes. Non-loanee farmers who have cultivated notified crops, can avail insurance cover by producing necessary documents.
It has also been clarified in the notification that benefit of insurance cover will be given the same way it was approved in 2016.
IFFCO Tokyo General Insurance Company has been appointed insurance agency for various districts mainly — Narayanpur, Kanker, Kabirdham, Raigarh, Durg, Kondagaon, Bilaspur, Baloda Bazar, Gariaband, Balrampur, Koria, Bijapur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Raipur, Jashpur, Bastar, Janjgir-Champa, Dhantewada, Rajnandgaon and Surguja. Similarly, Reliance General Insurance Company has been appointed for other districts like Sukma, Balod, Mungeli, Bemetara, Surajpur and Korba.
Two per cent of the maximum insured amount or original amount whichever is less will be paid and for rest of the amount, Centre and state government will make contribution in ratio of 50:50.
Claims will be effective from period of sowing to harvest covering all the adversity like non-sowing of notified crops, natural calamity, non-germination of seeds, etc.
A State-level Review and Advisory Committee for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors has been constituted under Chairmanship of Chief Minister Raman Singh in June this year, officials informed.
Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal is the Vice Chairman of the Committee while Ministers of Finance, Co-operatives, Food, Commerce and Industry, Village Industry, Energy, Woman and Child Development and Social Welfare Department are its members.
This apart, all MLAs and MPs from the State, Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Development Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development Department, Principal Secretary and Secretaries of Revenue and Disaster Management, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Co-operatives, Industry and Commerce,Village Industries, Energy, Social Welfare, Woman and Child Development, Convenor, State Level Bankers Committee, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Agriculture University, Raipur, Chairman, Farmer Welfare Council, Director, National Biodiversity Stress Management Institute, Two progressive farmers nominated by Regional Office of ICAR besides one farmer nominated each by Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, an Agriculture Entrepreneur, farmers involved in seed cultivation, two women representatives from the welfare sector in the State will also be members of the Committee.
Secretary, Agriculture will be Member Secretary of the Committee.
Notably, Chhattisgarh developed cold storage capacity of 65,349 metric tonnes under the National Horticulture Mission during period 2009-10 to 2016-17, the Central Government has informed.
As per All India Cold Storage Capacity and Technology - Base line Survey (December 10, 2014) conducted by M/s Hansa Research Group, commissioned by National Horticulture Board (NHB) under Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, 75 per cent of the total cold storage capacity in the country was used for the purpose of storage of horticulture crops including potato,it informed.
Out of total production of potatoes in the country, 75 per cent was stored in cold storages for long term storage at farm gate. Further, 95 per cent of cold storages in the country were owned by private sector, 3 per cent by cooperatives and remaining 2 per cent were under Public Sector Undertakings.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government will establish Multi-Commodity Cold Storage chambers for Horticulture and other commodities in five districts of the State. The cold storages will be established at Mandi/Sub Mandi Yard of Raipur (TULSI), Durg, Rajnandgaon , Bilaspur and Raigarh.
State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal in January this year had stated that a master plan had been prepared to provide subsidy for opening of cold storages also by farmers.
The Minister said that he considers himself lucky that he got an opportunity to serve the farmers and always makes efforts to improve their living conditions.
He was addressing the members of Progressive Farmers’ Union at village Khapri (Kumhari) in Durg district. The Minister called upon the farmers to grow crops like fruits and vegetables apart from paddy and augment their family income.
State Agriculture Department, Horticulture Department and Indira Gandhi Agriculture University had been working in close co-ordination to improve the lot of farmers, Agrawal said.
He had appreciated the efforts of Progressive Framers’ Union in spreading awareness of improvised techniques in farming.
Notably, the cold chain capacity created by the Union Ministry of FoodProcessing Industries in Chhattisgarh stood at 8500 metric tonnes (MT) till April 2015, officials stated.
In a power point presentation on Prospects of Cold Chain Infrastructure in Eastern Region on April 6, 2015, the Ministry has spelled out its plans of taking up a total of 500 Integrated Cold Chain projects as per the modified pattern of the Central assistance during the next five years across the country to create capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.
The core objective of the projects is to make the scheme of cold chain value addition nd preservation infrastructure open ended, it stated.
Incidentally, on August 31, 2016, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.
Chairing a meeting of the State Industry Department at the office in his residence in Raipur, the Chief Minister said that as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State would run the ‘Food Processing Mission’ while using its own resources.
He said that the State government has made a provision of Rs 12 crore for launching the State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’.
Singh said that the launching of Mission would help farmers get better prices for their farm produce and also open new job avenues for youth in the Food Processing sector.
Officials attending the meeting said that Food Processing Sector in Chhattisgarh is being seen as a ‘focus sector’ to ensure industrial diversity.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Agricultural andProcessed Food Products Export Development Authority ( APEDA) to develop clusters for providing a major push to Agri products exports from the State.