Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday ordered the disbursal of 4,200 crore as crop loans to farmers by July 31. The order came soon after Mr Patnaik held a review meeting with the officials of the departments of agriculture and cooperation at the state secretariat here.

Mr Patnaik asked the officials to ensure seeds of non-paddy crops are provided to the farmers in the event of any damage to paddy crops due to irregular monsoon in the state.The review meeting was attended by senior officials of meteorological department, Bhubaneswar.

Hit by unseasonal rains triggered by a low pressure, the farmers had urged the government to provide loans to buy seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.State agriculture minister Pradip Maharathy said the government would make efforts to compensate the farmers for losses.

Source - http://www.asianage.com/