Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced a special package of ₹300 crore as livelihood support to farmers affected by the recent floods.
Agriculture input subsidy will be provided to small and marginal farmers who have sustained a crop loss of 33%. Farmers will get subsidy at ₹6,800 per hectare in non-irrigated areas, ₹13,500 per hectare in areas under assured irrigation and ₹18,000 per hectare for all types of perennial crops. Perennial crops will include mango, cashew, coconut, kewra and betel vine.
Assistance will be provided to actual cultivators. Agricultural input subsidy to any affected farmer will not be less than ₹2,000 for perennial crops and ₹1000 for other crops. Twenty of the 30 districts of Odisha were affected by incessant rain and the consequent floods during the last week of August.
About 20,000 pulse-seed kits will be provided to flood-affected farmers during the rabi season. One lakh farmers will be trained on seed treatment programme with free supply of chemicals and bio-pesticides to cover one lakh acres for increasing production of rabi crops.
As part of the immediate steps for arranging and distributing quality certified seeds in sufficient quantity, special assistance will be provided to farmers with higher subsidy of around 75% on certified quality seeds. According to the government, expeditious steps will be taken for crop loss assessment and steps will also be taken for invoking mid-season adversity under the crop insurance scheme.
