Rajasthan government ready to compensate farmers for crop damage: State Agriculture Minister

Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Lalchand Kataria on Saturday said the state government is determined to compensate the farmers for crop damage.

Kataria started the state level program of 'Meri Policy Mere Haath' campaign by providing Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana policies to farmers in Gram Panchayat Kalkh, Jobner (Jaipur), a press release said.

Kataria said that farmers have to face losses due to natural calamities like heavy rains, hailstorms. Crop insurance scheme has proved to be better for providing relief to the farmers from such calamities.

He said that our farmers have unique potential to make the state a leader in the agriculture sector.

It is state government's endeavour to take agriculture to a new peak so that the farmers of the state keep moving forward on the path of prosperity by adopting the latest technology in agriculture, he said.

The Agriculture Minister said that in the last four years, insurance claims worth Rs 18,500 crore have been distributed to about 1.90 crore crop insurance holders, the release said.

Due to non-availability of 'hardcopy' of the insurance policy on time, the farmers used to face many problems in getting insurance claim for crops. To solve these problems, the policies are being distributed by the state government by organising camps in the villages, the minister said.

Agriculture Commissioner Kanaram said that the land records of about 46,400 villages of the state have been integrated with the crop insurance portal and Rajasthan is the third state in the country to do so.

Under the 'Meri Policy Mere Haath' campaign, insurance policies will be distributed to farmers by organising camps at all gram panchayats of the state from February 18 to March 10.