Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will provide free crop insurance cover to all the farmers in the state for next three years.
This was announced by Cooperation Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak at a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Monday after a review of his department by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The minister said his department would bear the premiums of the crop insurance of the farmers from 2023 Kharif to 2025-26 Rabi season. Odisha is the first state in the country to provide free crop insurance cover to farmers, he added.
“The department has been providing short terms agriculture loans to the farmers under the three-tier system. The Odisha State Cooperative Bank, 17 Central Cooperative Banks and around 2,710 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have been giving loans at low rate of interest and return in easy instalments,” he said.
As per its election promise, the government has increased the interest-free loan limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Under the scheme, more than 7 lakh small and marginal farmers have been provided loans amounting to Rs 16,683.57 crore during the 2022-23 financial year, he added.
Besides, 1451 new Primary Agricultural Co-operative Societies (PACS) have been formed to further extend the short term loans to the grassroots level, he said adding that the PACS has been playing a crucial role in providing seeds and fertiliser to the farmers.
Principal Secretary Sanjeev Kumar Chadha was present at the press meet.
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