Odisha farmers to get free crop insurance for coming 3 years: Govt

Suranjan Mishra Published On : May 22, 2023 at 7:45 PM

Bhubaneswar: The Cooperation Department, Government of Odisha today announced that farmers in the State will be meted out absolutely free crop insurance coverage for the coming three years, starting from the Kharif season of the year 2023 up to the Rabi season of FY 2025-26.

The announcement came close on the heels of a review of the Department’s performance conducted by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik earlier in the day. As per the announcement, the department will pay insurance premiums for the same period on behalf of the beneficiary farmers.

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Providing free crop insurance coverage to Odisha farmers is the first-ever step in the country. Agricultural loans provided to farmers in the State are one of the successful programmes taken up by the Department. Accordingly, Odisha State Cooperative Bank, 17 Central Cooperative Banks and around 2,710 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have been providing agricultural loans to farmers in Odisha.

The beneficiary farmers get short-term cooperative loans at the time of their requirements, with low rates of interest and easy installments of payment, a press release mentioned.

The State government previously enhanced the interest-free loan limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Under this ambitious scheme, more than seven lakh small and marginal farmer families were provided with total agricultural loans to the tune of Rs 16,683.57 crore during the FY 2022-23, the Cooperation Department’s official communiqué stated.

During the review, Cooperation Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak gave a presentation on the last year’s performances. Principal Secretary Sanjeev Kumar Chadha was present on the occasion.