The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Crop insurance for 5 more districts

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Friday, Jun 15, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Crop insurance for 5 more districts

HYDERABAD: The State Government has extended the crop insurance facility to five more districts this year in addition to five districts already covered.

The insurance will be available to paddy farmers of Vizianagaram, East and West Godavari, groundnut farmers of Kurnool and maize growers of Medak district.

Efforts would be made to settle the claims of policy-holders within 10 to 15 days, Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said at a news conference here on Thursday.

The scheme is presently limited to maize crop in Karimnagar and Mahbubnagar, ground- nut in Anantapur and Kadapa and redgram in Prakasam district, taking the village as a unit.

Mr. Reddy said an amount of Rs. 17,300 crore was proposed to be distributed as crop loan and Rs. 5,350 crore as term loan to farmers this year.

An additional five lakh farmers who had not availed the loan facility would be targeted.

Input subsidy

The Minister also said the Government had issued orders on Wednesday releasing Rs. 113 crore towards input subsidy to farmers whose crops had dried in the last kharif.

Another Rs. 22.79 crore was also released to those who suffered on account of hailstorm.

Discussing the plans for the current kharif, Mr. Reddy said the seed requirement was estimated at 39.11 lakh quintals, of which 22 lakh quintals was already positioned for supply. The Government would give a subsidy of Rs. 161 crore in seed supply.

He disclosed the proposal of the Government to enact Genetically Modified Seed Act to control the activities particularly of Bt. cotton seed manufacturers.

It was firm about pegging the cost of the second version of Bt. cotton seed at Rs. 750 a packet.

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