Bihar’s cooperative department on Tuesday said farmers can register compensation claims on its website for losses due to unseasonal rain and hailstorm in March.

The cooperative department will compensate farmers for the loss in yield under its crop assistance scheme in addition to financial help given by the agriculture department. “The window on the cooperative department’s website has been opened to accept the claims for assistance in case of production loss,” said a senior official of the cooperative department.

The Bihar government did not implement the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme in the state because it believed the premium to be paid by farmers for coverage was too high. In 2018, the state government launched its own crop insurance scheme in which farmers do not have to pay any premium but need to register for it.

“Under the insurance policy, each farmer can get monetary assistance up to ₹20,000 in case of loss in production due to any reason, which could be due to poor quality seed, excessive heat, or even shortage of fertilisers,” said the official cited above.

The state agriculture department has already earmarked ₹92 crore to compensate farmers in six districts including Gaya, Rohtas, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and East Champaran for the damage to standing crops on around 54,000 hectares due to untimely rains during March 21-24.

“We have received claims from around 1.15 lakh farmers, which are being evaluated. The agriculture department is likely to transfer the amount to the farmers’ account through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme by next month,” said a joint director rank official, adding that they had sought the release of funds from the disaster management department.

Farmers can get ₹22,500 for every acre of land in case of loss of crop due to a natural disaster if the land is fit for multiple cropping. “A sum of ₹17,000 is offered for loss of crop on each acre of irrigated land and ₹8,500 for non-irrigated land. Farmers get compensation for a maximum of 2 acres, while the minimum compensation for each farmer is ₹1,000, ₹2,000 and ₹2,500 for non-irrigated, irrigated and multiple cropping fields respectively by the agriculture department,” said the official.

Source - https://www.hindustantimes.com