12,000 farmers may take part in kisan mela

Punjab agrees to adopt PM's crop insurance scheme after recent hailstorm

At least two farmers from each of the 6,000-odd blocks in the country will participate in the three-day mega kisan mela to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

The fair, with which the Modi government is trying to reach out to the farmers battered by two consecutive droughts and a record drop in product prices, will also see participation from a host of private input providers, agriculture scientists, researchers, marketing and finance executives, etc.

The nine technical sessions to be held during the mela would be telecast live. The technical sessions will include interaction on new crop insurance scheme, horticulture and fisheries, agriculture marketing, livestock, and processing and value addition. At the event, Modi will also give away 'Krishi Karman Awards' to states and progressive farmers who have made outstanding contribution in the field of agriculture. He will also visit the theme pavilion and address farmers.

Krishi Karman Awards would be given away to eight states - Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal - for 2014-15. The commendation awards would be given to three states - Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa.

In a related development, after the recent rain and hailstorm, Punjab has shown interest in adopting the Prime Minister’s new crop insurance scheme.  Initially, Punjab government was not keen to adopt Fasal Bima Yojana and Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) as the state's production variability was low due to assured irrigation.

“After seeing the damage due to recent unseasonal rains and hailstorm, Punjab has expressed its desire to implement PMFBY and WBCIS for crops having high production variability, particularly cotton and major crops, in the areas bordering Rajasthan,” PTI quoted a senior agriculture ministry official as saying.

The state government will meet on March 23 at Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana to explore the possibilities of implementing PMFBY and WBCIS. Even senior officials from the Union agriculture ministry would be present in the meeting, the official added.  Unseasonal rains and hailstorm in the past few days in some parts of Punjab have affected wheat and other rabi crops. It is estimated that five-seven per cent of wheat crop has been affected and the government is still assessing the extent of loss.