National Insurance cover for seven crops in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh government had decided to implement the national agriculture insurance policy and cover seven crops for the current Kharif season.

According to state government spokesperson, the crops to be covered under the national agriculture insurance scheme include paddy, Makka, Soyabean, Groundnut, Arhar pulses, Udad and Moong. The state cabinet had approved the draft of the National Agriculture Insurance Policy in May this year. The spokesperson said the agriculture department after consultations with the union agriculture ministry had given final shape for the implementation of the insurance policy.

The agriculture department officials said that the policy would cover all the farmers no matter they had taken loans or not. The share-croppers would also be entitled for the crop insurance.

The state government had decided to take kharif crops in 4.82 million hectares of area to produce 8.63 million tonnes of foodgrain in the kharif marketing season 2015. The state that had been recording over 1300 millimeters of annual average rainfall had not received good rains in the current season. The officials said there was no immediate threat to the crops following short rainfall. Moreover, Chhattisgarh had been a paddy growing state and delay in rainfall would not have much impact, they added.

The state government had planned to take paddy crop in 3.64 million hectares area this year as compared to last year's 3.73 million hectares---a variation of about two per cent. As against 7.64 MT paddy produced during the kharif 2014, the department had set a target of producing 7.65 MT paddy this year.