A Central study team to assess crop loss due to scanty rainfall is likely to visit the affected areas in the State tentatively by October 10, Agriculture Minister N. Chaluvarayaswamy has said.
Addressing presspersons in Kalaburagi on Tuesday, the Minister said that the State government has declared 195 taluks as drought-hit owing to shortage of rainfall this monsoon. Of the 195, 161 taluks have been declared as severely drought-hit and 34 taluks as moderately drought-hit.
The Agriculture Department has completed 95% of the crop loss survey. This exercise will be fully completed before the arrival of the Central study team. As per preliminary reports, standing crops on 40 lakh hectares have been damaged and the loss is estimated at nearly ₹28,000 crore. The State government has written to the Centre requesting release of ₹4,000 crore relief for the State, he added.
He said that the government has released ₹148 crore to compensate 2,37,860 farmers in the districts Kalaburagi, Bidar, Yadgir and Vijayapura where red gram crops were damaged due to wilt disease last year.
The government will release the remaining ₹74 crore relief at the earliest. Of the ₹148 crore released during the first phase, ₹120 crore has been released to 1,65,027 farmers in Kalaburagi district.
The Minister said that loan limit for new Farmer Produce Organisations (FPOs) has been increased from the existing ₹5-₹20 lakh to ₹20-₹50 lakh and a sum of ₹10 crore has been allocated for loan facilities for FPOs. To strengthen the post-harvesting system by providing agriculture machinery, the government has allocated ₹50 crore for establishing 100 Harvester Hubs across the State in a phased manner.
The State government will reintroduce farm ponds scheme and has allocated ₹100 crore this year for the purpose. The previous government had stopped it, he added.
