Bhubaneswar: The state government is mulling to provide financial assistance of Rs 20,000 to the farmers under distress in a bid to curb farmer suicides.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment department will identify the blocks that have historically reported incidents of farmers’ distress during Kharif season. The department has constituted Farmers’ Welfare Fund of Rs 250 crore from which the funds will be disbursed to such farmers, sources said.
If the new scheme is approved, the government will prepare the detailed guidelines in this regard to empower sarpanchs in such blocks to provide the assistance to the framers in distress, the source added.
After field verification by district level officials, the fund will be sanctioned to the gram panchayat concerned and the latter will provide utilisation certificates for the same.
The government has also decided to put up proper mechanism to provide loan to the small and marginal farmers so that they will not be exploited by money lenders, they added.
Last year, the state government had launched KALIA scheme, under which it had provided Rs 5,000 assistance to over 50 lakh farmers.