Union minister reviews central agriculture schemes in Assam

Guwahati, July 5 (PTI): Union Minister of state for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Parshottam Rupala on Monday reviewed the schemes of the ministry being implemented by the Assam government.

During a meeting, Rupala highlighted various central schemes such as PM-Kisan and the hiking of the minimum support price (MSP) for various crops for the benefit of farmers in the country, an official release said.

He thanked Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Agriculture minister, Atul Bora, who chaired the review meeting, for their initiatives to implement the central government schemes successfully.

About the ongoing Crop Insurance Week for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Rupala said that the scheme aims at providing security cover to each farmer.

The centre has launched a week-long special drive from July 1 to enrol more cultivators under the PMFBY and it will cover all notified areas under the kharif 2021 season with special focus on 75 districts, where crop insurance penetration is low.

The Union minister said that the central government would share up to 90 percent of the premium subsidy for PMFBY for the North Eastern states while the existing sharing pattern is 50:50.

The schemes like PMFBY will provide insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in events of crop failure due to natural calamities, pest attacks and diseases and stabilise the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming, he said.

Rupala stated that more than INR 95,000 crore worth of claims have been provided to farmers since the launch of the scheme against the total premium of INR 17,000 crore paid by them.

The scheme launched in 2016 was made voluntary for all farmers post its revamp in February 2020, the release said.