Centre to spend Rs 55,000 crore on agricultural sector, bring crop insurance

AMRITSAR: The central government is planning to spend Rs 50,000 crore on farming and irrigation sector besides rolling out a crop insurance scheme to address the problems of those engaged in agriculture, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here today.

He said the condition of farmers is a "matter of concern" and that if the state governments come forward and utilise the funds, it will bring positive change in the field of agriculture sector.

"In the coming time, we have plans to spend Rs 50,000 crore on farming and irrigation sectors in the country," he said addressing a public rally.

"The condition of farmers is a matter of concern...We are working on the next challenge wherein if farmer's crop gets damaged, he will automatically get insurance amount for the crop loss while sitting at his home. We are bringing an insurance scheme only for the farming sector," Jaitley said.

Speaking in Mumbai on July 12, the Finance minister had said, "Hopefully, in the near future, a viable and vibrant insurance scheme will be in place for farmers."

The present crop insurance schemes cover only the loans which a farmer has taken from banks.

Noting that the agriculture sector presents its own set of challenges with successive low rate of growth over the years, he had admitted, "We have been unable to ensure even a 4 per cent growth consistently in the field of agriculture."

"With productivity levels reasonably low and 85 per cent farmers being small and marginal, the agriculture sector is afflicted by higher input costs, low level of irrigation, high indebtedness, absence of an effective insurance mechanism and adverse impacts of climate change," Jaitely had told the 34th Foundation Day celebrations of Nabard here.