The Tamil Nadu government has announced a new crop insurance scheme for farmers by joining the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance scheme. As per this, the state government will need to spend 500 crore as its share against the 40 crore being spent for the present scheme. "Though the government will have to shell out more money each year, it has been decided to implement the scheme as it would benefit farmers in the state," said chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a statement. "I had promised a new crop insurance scheme in our manifesto and the state will participate in the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme by sharing the expenses along with the Centre," the chief minister said. Soon after taking charge as chief minister in May, Jayalalithaa announced waiver of cooperative credit taken by small and marginal farmers. Under the new scheme, crop loss will be calculated at the village level instead of the block level. "Such a calculation will give the actual loss suffered by farmers and they would get better relief from insurance companies," said Jayalalithaa. In block-level assessment, a cluster-level calculation is done and some villages would be left out. This could be addressed in the new scheme, sources said. Crop loss due to natural calamity in nine districts, including the delta districts of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur, would be calculated based on the average agriculture production of the previous 7 years, leaving out the worst drought or flood years. The risk level has been increased to 70% so that farmers would get more money.