17 lakh farmers benefited due to crop insurance

Hyderabad, Aug 7 :-

   The Crop insurance has benefited 17 lakh farmers in the state, according to a statement made by  Raghuveera Reddy, Minister for Agriculture here  on Friday.

Responding to a question raised by the Praja Rajyam MLA Shoba Nagireddy demanding the Government to publish a white a paper on the Crop insurance details to farmers, the Agiculture Minister said that the government is implementing the Crop insurance scheme for all Crops in 22 districts and it has taken up the village as a unit. The government has allotted Rs 1900 crore for this purpose. The Minister said 7,000 working staff are involved in this process  to help the farmers.

To implement this scheme for other Crops, the government would hold a meeting with Centre for further discussions, he added.

He explained that the non-loanee farmers can also utilize this opportunity by paying the premium before the stipulated time.

Referring to the palm oil farmers, he said that the efforts are being made to bail them out of financial crisis.  As for providing the infrastructure to these farmers, he mentioned that Chief Minister, Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, had already approached Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar on this issue. The Union Agriculture Minister assured him of his full support on this issue.

The government would install drip irrigation facility in the farms for better yield, he added.