The Gujarat government has declared a special relief plan for farmers in three districts that have been hit by the excessive rain and consequent damage to crops. Farmers will also get an additional support of 20,000 per hectare in addition to the current compensation in case of crop loss, but not exceeding two hectares of land per farmer. The move aims to assist farmers who incurred massive losses in their agricultural farms in the past few months because of the unseasonal rainfall.
Government sources claimed that the affected districts were in Patan, Banaskantha and Kutch, where there was continuous rainfall, which caused massive waterlogging, leading to the destruction of standing crops and slowing Rabi sowing. The package is a relief to the thousands of farmers who find it difficult to reclaim their economy, which was hit by the failure of crops.
The Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, upon announcing the package, said that the state government is determined to protect the interests of farmers. We know the hardships that our farmers go through in case of natural disasters. This special support will enable them to recover quickly and revert to agricultural production with no financial strain, he added.
The farmers will get 20,000 per hectare special assistance under the new package, along with the normal compensation given to the farmers as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) norms. This will be directly deposited into the bank accounts of farmers upon confirmation of land and crop damage reports that are prepared by the local administration teams.
The relief package takes care of both irrigated and non-irrigated lands, which means that small and marginal farmers are able to receive proper assistance in preparing their lands for the next crop season. The state government has asked the local officials of the state to fill in the damage assessment surveys as soon as possible to release funds that are available.
In the past, unseasonal rains have been estimated to have led to the losses of crops that were valued at more than 5000 crore in various regions of Gujarat. The worst affected were the standing crops like groundnut, cotton and pulses. This special package supplements a 947-crore compensation scheme that had already been approved by the government in October.
Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel has remarked that this initiative is representative of the government taking an active step to make sure that there is stability in the rural areas. We are not only interested in relief, but also in restoring productivity in the affected regions. The objective is to make sure that none of the farmers are left behind, he said.
It is through this announcement that the Gujarat government hopes to boost the agriculture recovery and assure farmers that it will continue to support them to overcome the climate-induced problems.
