Govt to introduce remote sensing for accurate assessment of crop loss: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
The government has decided that now the crop loss will be assessed correctly and accurately through satellite based i.e. remote sensing. As way forward towards bridging the price gap between the producing and consuming states, the government has decided to bear the cost of transportation and storage as well.
Union Minister said that PM Crop Insurance Scheme is the world’s largest crop insurance scheme. In this, loanee applications are 876 lakh and non-loanee applications are 552 lakh. A total of 14.28 crore farmers have applied, 602 lakh hectare area is insured and the gross insured amount is Rs 2,73,049 crore. 4 crore farmers have benefited from the scheme. Since the inception of the scheme, Rs 17 thousand crore has been given to the farmer brothers in the form of claim.
Union Minister informed that under the Agri Infra Fund, lending institutions will give loans of Rs 1 lakh crore. An amount of Rs 51,783 crore has been approved for projects worth Rs 85,314 crore till 2024. Out of this, Rs 39,148 crore has been covered under scheme benefits. An investment of Rs 85,208 crore has been raised in the agriculture sector from the approved projects.
Shri Chouhan said that it is also necessary to pay attention to the legalization of crops. States are also making better efforts in this direction. Be it grains or horticulture, production has increased continuously. Food grain production was 265.05 million tonnes in 2013-14, which increased to 328.85 million tonnes in 2023-24. Also, horticulture production was recorded at 352.23 million tonnes. Approval to allocate an amount of Rs 99,311.36 lakh to 15 states as central share to promote the cultivation of oil palm in 1.38 lakh hectare area under National Edible Oil Mission.
Regarding the crop insurance scheme, he told that earlier the loss was assessed manually through crop cutting now the Central government has decided that it will now be done through satellite based i.e. remote sensing. This will ensure correct and accurate assessment of crop loss and the amount will be transferred at the right time through DBT, if any insurance company delays in giving the claim, then it will have to pay 12 per cent interest on the amount. He told that the Center will give its share of the amount immediately. He appealed to the states to also make arrangements to give money immediately in such a situation. He said that in the interest of farmers, many arrangements are also being made for weather based crops and many decisions have been taken in the interest of farmers in the recent past.
He told that in the case of top (tomato, onion and potato) crops, to bridge the price difference between the producer and consumer states during the peak time of harvesting, the government has decided to bear the cost of transportation and storage for the work done by the central nodal agencies. States should come forward to implement the Price Deficit Payment Scheme as an alternative to oilseeds, for this the coverage has been increased from the existing 25 per cent to 40 per cent of the state production of oilseeds. The period has also been increased from 3 months to 4 months. Moisture limit in soybean for 2024-25 has been increased from 12 per cent to 15 per cent. So far 11.41 lakh metric tonnes of soybean has been purchased from 6 states and it is still going on. Union Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and farmers are its soul, serving farmers is worship of God for us. Believing this, the Agriculture Department is working in collaboration with all you states. He said that I am confident that we will share suggestions together regarding the budget, improvement in schemes etc. and we will move forward together in that direction.
The government has decided that now the
