Bhubaneswar: In a bid to protect the farmers from natural calamities and ensure their credit eligibility for the next season, the state government has targeted to provide insurance coverage to crops of around 25 lakh farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
This target was fixed at the meeting of State Level Coordination Committee on Crop Insurance (SLCCCI) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary AP Padhi here Monday.
The government has set a target to cover kharif crop of 25 lakh including 5 lakh non-loanee farmers under the scheme.
Kharif crops including paddy, groundnut, cotton, turmeric, ginger, red gram (Arhar) and maize will be covered under the scheme, sources said. Insurance coverage will also be provided to crops like mustard, potato, black gram, green gram, sugarcane, onion and sunflower during the upcoming Rabi season, they said.
Gram panchayats (GP) would be the unit areas of insurance for paddy while for other crops, each block will a unit during this season. Accordingly, entire state has been converted into six clusters. About 18.54 lakh farmers were insured under the scheme during Kharif-2017 while another 64,126 were covered during last rabi season.
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