The Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday said higher compensation announced by the Prime Minister will be provided to farmers in those states where rabi crops were affected by recent hailstorms.

An official press note, however, made no reference to rains in this regard.

A central team has been sent to Uttar Pradesh, while two other teams will be visiting Haryana and Rajasthan shortly to assess the extent of damage for providing relief under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), the release said.

The Ministry also said the extent of crop damage is limited to 85 lakh hectares in states such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharasthra, a sharp drop from the earlier report of 113 lakh hectares submitted by the states.

"The Prime Minister today made two major announcements. He has increased the relief by 50 per cent given to farmers from NDRF as well as reduced the minimum area of damage for relief to 33 per cent from the existing 50 per cent. These benefits would be applicable to states affected with recent hailstorm. Distressed farmers will be benefited from this," the ministry said in a statement.

However, the state governments have been asked to keep 10 per cent of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) reserved for "local disasters" such as heavy rain which are to be declared at par with national disasters and use this money for distressed farmers, it added.

Currently, financial assistance is given to affected farmers under SDRF and NDRF in the wake of 12 notified natural disasters -- hailstorm, flood, cyclone, cloud burst, drought, earthquake, tsunami, landslides, avalanche, fire, pest attack and cold waves/frost.

As per the existing norms, state governments can utilise funds under SDRF to give input subsidy to farmers at the rate of Rs 4,500 per hectare for rain-fed areas, Rs 9,000 per hectare for irrigated areas and Rs 12,000 per hectare for perennial crops.

The Centre allocates more funds under NDRF to state governments in case the expenditure is more than the available fund in SDRF.

Directing state governments to disburse relief from SDRF without any delay, the Ministry said, "In case of shortfall, they should use their State Contingency Funds as well as submit their memorandums to avail assistance from NDRF."

Memorandums seeking relief funds have been received from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. A central team has been sent to Uttar Pradesh. Another two teams will be going soon to Haryana and Rajasthan shortly, it added.

That apart, the state governments have been asked to ensure faster processing of claims under the agri-insurance schemes and facilitate timely restructuring of crop loans.

In view of damage to onion and potato crops, the Agriculture Ministry has written to all states including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal where there is likelihood of increase in their prices, to purchase and maintain stocks of the same.

Source - http://zeenews.india.com/